§ Mr. Bowen Wellsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many tons of British food aid to Sudan have been shipped and delivered to Port Sudan in the month of March and are due to be delivered in April, May and June.
§ Mr. LuceA total of 22,000 tonnes of wheat and almost 10,000 tonnes of wheatflour — equivalent to 13,000 tonnes of wheat—is due to be delivered to Port Sudan in May. This represents the full extent of present British food aid commitments. Our most recent shipment, of 15,000 tonnes, reached Port Sudan in January 1985.
§ Mr. Bowen Wellsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements have been made to distribute British food aid in Sudan.
§ Mr. LuceThe shipment due to arrive in May consists of
- (a) 17,000 tonnes of wheat, which will be distributed by agreement with the Government of the Sudan under arrangements to be monitored by the World Food Programme—WFP—on our behalf;
- (b) just under 10,000 tonnes of wheatflour which the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees—UNHCR —will sell to the Sudanese Government for re-sale on agreed conditions within Sudan; the proceeds will be used to finance UNHCR refugee programmes in Sudan;
- (c) 5,000 tonnes provided under the International Emergency Food Reserve administered by the World Food Programme—WFP—which will be responsible for distribution.
We are providing £232,000 to the WFP to buy the fuel needed to distribute the food in Sudan. The WFP was responsible for distributing the 15,000 tonnes of wheat which arrived in Sudan in January 1985. A shipment of wheatflour was provided in November 1984 to the UNHCR on a similar basis to that described above.