§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What information they have about the response of the government of Sudan to the request by the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights for it to extend an open invitation to the fact-finding and investigate mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights to visit Sudan. [HL1438]
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)We are not aware of any response by the Government of Sudan to the recent statement by the acting High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation in Darfur, western Sudan. We are pressing the government, and the other parties to the conflict, to declare a ceasefire preferably with international monitoring to permit humanitarian access to all those in need, and to resume talks to find a peaceful solution to Darfur's problems.