Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the security of British Embassy employees returning to Juba, South Sudan after the attacks on civilians at the Terrain hotel in July 2016.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We are appalled by reports of aid workers coming under attack at the Terrain hotel. It is completely unacceptable to target people who have themselves gone to help those in greatest need. The UN Security Council emphasised concerns about this incident during the visit to Juba in early September 2016. We take very seriously the security of all our staff overseas – both UK and locally engaged – in line with our duty of care obligations, and regularly review security at our missions. Our Embassy was reduced to only essential staff during the crisis and careful consideration is being given on numbers returning.