HL Deb 03 February 1999 vol 596 cc214-6WA
Lord McNair

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Amos on 16 December 1998 (WA 152), whether Operation Lifeline Sudan has arrived at an estimate of either the percentage or dollar value of food aid being diverted by the Sudan People's Liberation Army. [HL704]

Baroness Amos

No definitive figures are available and the scale of diversions by the SPLA and government supported militias vary with location.

Lord McNair

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Amos on 17 December 1998 (WA 170), what evidence there is for food aid diversion by Government of Sudan structures or forces. [HL705]

Baroness Amos

The Government of Sudan make it very difficult to monitor the end use of distributed food. There are widespread suspicions that the lists and numbers of beneficiaries, and the distribution of food, are manipulated in government controlled areas. It is also known that government-supported local militia groups regularly loot food.

Lord McNair

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Amos on 17 December 1998 (WA 169) about the diversion of emergency food aid in southern Sudan, whether (a) they have studied the report of the joint Operation Lifeline Sudan and Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association task force which examined allegations of such diversion of aid, and (b) whether they will place a copy of this report in the Library of the House. [HL706]

Baroness Amos

We have studied the report of the joint Operation Lifeline Sudan and Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association Task Force report.

We are seeking the agreement of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs to make the report publicly available. We have arranged for the OLS press release on the report, dated 9 September 1998, to be placed in the Library of the House.

Lord McNair

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Amos on 17 December 1998 (WA 169), whether, having studied the report of the joint Operation Lifeline Sudan and Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association task force into the diversion of emergency food aid by the Sudan People's Liberation Army, they have directly raised this issue with the SPLA; on which occasions this issue was discussed; and what the response has been. [HL707]

Baroness Amos

We regularly raise this and other humanitarian issues with the SPLA both bilaterally and in concert with the Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS). It was discussed most recently on 25 January in London with SPLA's UK representatives and on 26 January in Nairobi at a joint OLS/Donor meeting with John Garang, leader of the SPLA.