§ The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos)My honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development has made the following Statement.
The Government welcome the African Union (AU)'s decision of 20 October to expand its Ceasefire Monitoring Commission in Darfur from approximately 500 people to more than 3,000. As the Prime Minister said in Addis on 7 October, "the AU is playing an absolutely vital lead role in trying to resolve this crisis. both by bringing the Government and the rebels together, to try to resolve the conflict peacefully and, meanwhile, monitoring that they are observing their interim ceasefire agreement."
The UK has already given significant support to the AU mission. We contributed £2 million to help to jump-start the mission in May, and we provided airlift for the 150 Nigerian troops which joined the mission in August, as well as rations packs to feed these people. We have also provided technical planning expertise for the AU, and seconded a British monitor to the mission.
As the Prime Minister announced in Addis, we will of course play our part in supporting the expanded mission. We have set aside a further £12 million for this purpose, and are working hard to ensure that these people can be deployed quickly. We are discussing with the A U and other donors, including the European Commission, what more we can all do to support the mission.