Adoa New Adoa New
Related Articles
I am also grateful, my Lords, to the noble Lord, Lord Collins, for arranging this debate, and a debate in which the expertise that we hear from will is extraordinary, with some exception, in particular, the ministers in Africa, or for Africa, we’ve heard from Lord Ahmad with his extraordinarily distinguished career, and I look forward to hearing from Lord Bellingham when he speaks. The noble Lord, Lord Alton’s speech was very remarkable indeed, and it is noticeable in what we have heard so far, that the history of Sudan has been very present to us, and I echo the words that we have heard more than once, that this is not simply a conflict between two major power groups seeking power in the Sudan at the moment, it is based in the fragility of a society that has seen war for more of the time that Sudan has been independent than it has seen peace, both what is now South Sudan and in Sudan itself.
Sudan is already a human catastrophe on an extraordinary scale, and it is using vast quantities of humanitarian aid, and as was said by the noble Baroness, Baroness Amos, that leads only to the most temporary of solutions. In Sudan and elsewhere, crisis follows crisis, and countries like our own are caught between the equally atrocious options of sticking plasters, or ignoring the crises. We often have warnings. The Right Reverend prelate the Bishop of Leeds, spoke about his visit in June, and about our extraordinary Archbishop, Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo, in Khartoum. I spoke to him shortly before the war broke out, and a month or so ahead, he said, we sit in Khartoum with two armed groups looking at each other over the sights of their guns. Imminently, there is going to be trouble. It was not a surprise, and in that context, I want to acknowledge the cross party support, which is very welcome and welcome, and acknowledge the very hard work by the FCDO, and the clear speech by the noble Lord, Lord Collins.
I would start with one word of caution, in which he quite rightly said, we must return to civilian rule, a proper democratic civilian rule. But as we have seen elsewhere, peace with an authoritarian government is better than no peace at all, and I hope that is not so much of a red line that we will not work to establish the ceasefire and the stability which will enable civilians to take over. We cannot and do not abandon victims of war to famine. However, beyond the cause of humanitarian aid, there lies a deeper question for this debate, how can we anticipate such disasters, and what means are there to prevent or cure them once they happen, whether it’s in Sudan or elsewhere around the world, and I think especially of the DRC. How do we make peace, wage peace? Be those to whom Jesus refers in the Beatitudes as blessed and known as children of God. The Security and Defence Review, led by the noble Lord, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, presents an important and welcome opportunity to build a new pillar in the way we structure our defence and security operations. It was a pillar notably absent from the two integrated reviews. I’ll come back to that in a moment. A peace building option well developed and acting in areas of fragility would extend our influence, protect our interest, and as has been said several times, guard against fresh waves of migration. I already hear anecdotally from within the diocese I serve, and its coast, its south coast, that of Canterbury, that those who are meeting those landing in boats find a very high proportion indeed coming from Sudan.
The problem in Sudan is historically driven. It goes right back to the 1950s and to the settlement made at that time by the government of that time, which Churchill described as Munich on the Nile. The horrors of long civil war have led to the division of the country once and its incapacity to avoid further divisions as we go forward. And therefore, I want to suggest to the noble Lord the Minister, that we need to invest longer term in broader reconciliation resources specifically designed with partners to find peaceful solutions. In other words, the SDR, the Strategic Defence Review, should be full spectrum, preparing this nation not only to wage war, but to wage peace as well. I fear that may not be the case. But even if it does not happen in the SDR, I hope very much that the Government, and particularly the FCDO, will look very carefully at putting such mechanisms in place, not least in our current times in this country for reasons of economy.
Stopping conflict before it happens via peaceful political solutions should be central to any security and defence route and branch redesign. Our influence in Sub Saharan Africa remains enormous. Our expertise is very considerable, both in civil society amongst the churches, where, for example, the Anglican Communion has its largest percentage of members, and through government and the long, long experience we have of understanding issues there. The work of peacebuilding not only saves lives, it saves vast amounts of taxpayers money for defence, for migration control and from humanitarian aid. It can be used expertly in contexts where our military would never operate in force and rightly, and yet where strategic foreign policy must work, such as in the context of securing critical minerals for the global transition to renewable energies like the DRC, reducing the need for emergency funding, reducing destruction and reducing the dangers of vastly increased immigration, in our interests.
The noble Baroness, Baroness Suttie, put a very powerful point when she spoke of seeing Wagner in Khartoum. We are engaged in supporting the Ukraine and as a global power, we must look globally in the offshoots of that conflict that we are seeking to diminish. The recent creation of the FCDO’s negotiation and peace process support team is an attempt at this, but it is frankly underfunded, understaffed, and held within a limited FCDO remit. And thus, as my last comment, I suggest that we see the creation of a joint reconciliation unit staffed by intelligence, conflict analysts, military and civilian specialists, trade specialists, complemented by experienced international negotiators and underpinned by relations with NGOs and faith groups, for most of these conflicts are in areas of high levels of belief. It should report to the National Security Council, because it is a matter of security.
Crises happen. They will go on, but we can do better, be more effective and secure our own interests in the long term, far better.
