Policy and Funding

As Caroline Lucas MP quite rightly pointed out, by allowing such an event to take place we are abandoning policy that aims to weaken a regime engaged in corruption and genocide. To resume a relationship with Sudan portrays that we, firstly are legitimising Al-Bashir and his criminal policies and secondly, that we agree with the lifting of sanctions on Sudan. Does our Government really want to resume resume relations with a country who has made no real strides in addressing such Human Rights concerns as genocide, slavery and poverty (to name a few). Is our Government going to encourage UK investment in a country currently ranked 170 of 176 on the Transparency Index for corruption across “all branches and all levels of Government”. Surely we would not make the same mistake twice, after allowing the Sudan minister of Investment, Omar Faisal, to visit the UK in November 2016 to promote business interests in Sudan. By ignoring these facts, the UK becomes complicit in the violence that has forced thousands to flee from the ethnic cleansing policies of Omar Al-Bashir.

It is imperative to acknowledge that if the UK renew trade relations with Sudan and encourage investment in the economy, we arm the very military that bombards those we seek to help with our annual commitment of £50 million in humanitarian aid. Is this a regime with whom the UK wishes to renew trade relations? We should consider this when Global Justice Now revealed that £400,000 from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund has been donated to strengthening the Sudanese Military. This claim was denied by a UK Government spokesperson, yet the justification for a dialogue with the military was given as ensuring their compliance with Human Rights Standards. Sudan has faced decades of conflict, but the recent scale of attacks throughout the country has created the most dire situation and unprecedented numbers of vulnerable people. Is this what the UK Government mean by compliance?

Health and Education

According to DFID, official figures show the number of marginalised people in desperate need of assistance stands at 6.1m, but with restrictions on access, essential aid is in short supply. This is where the work of HART and their partners are vital, providing medical and education supplies to the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile State, facilitating life-saving care and a future for the children that involves learning not fighting.

During HART’s recent visit to the Nuba Mountains, they visited families who escaped the fighting by taking shelter in caves. The stories are tragic, where families have lost their homes and loved ones to air strikes coordinated by the Government of Sudan (GoS). Those that managed to flee to the mountains are still not safe, having to deal with burns and deep wounds as a result of the shelling on top of cobra bites, malaria, acute watery diarrhoea and malnutrition. With the lack of humanitarian access, the limited supplies that HART are able to provide mean the difference between life and death.

In addition, partner organisations ‘New Sudan Council of Churches’ (NSCC) and ‘Nuba Relief, Rehabilitation and Development Organisation’ (NRRDO) run emergency relief services, supplying nutritious food to locals left starving by the loss of agricultural land . Having to endure flooding and military raids, farmland near the frontlines are left abandoned or occupied by Government forces. Losing their main source of food, children are affected the most with almost 25% suffering acute malnutrition. Due to their displacement, children also have little access to schools and education. Without such efforts by the NSCC and the NRRDO, the people of the Two Areas, 27,000 of whom are internally displaced and suffering almost 40% severe food insecurity, would be suffering in silence at the hands of the GoS.

Military

The overpowering military presence is ingrained in the Government through Al-Bashir and his genocidal policies. It is in his attacks on civilians in Darfur that the ICC has brought charges against him for Human Rights abuses. Notwithstanding the authority of the ICC, the President continues to resort to using military forces and declared a state of emergency in 7 states including South Kordofan and Blue Nile. In December 2016, six months after an alleged ceasefire was announced in the Two Areas, Al-Bashir made clear his intention to resolve the conflict using the Armed Forces. By January 2017 the ceasefire had broken down and the fighting escalated with a further push towards enforcing an extremist agenda. The GoS is preoccupied with pursuing policies that attack political and religious freedoms in an attempt to fashion an Arab Islamist Nation. The shift towards an extremist opinion, realised after building a relationship with Saudi Arabia, should be of concern to the UK as any investment would unwittingly serve this brutal campaign and its commitment to ethnic cleansing and genocide. To engage in a trade relations with The Sudan while it favours its Military prowess and exercises it on its own people to achieve its goal of an extremist nation, would cause irreparable damage to the UK’s reputation.