Written question asked by Lord Hylton (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Triesman (Labour) on Tuesday, 12 December 2006.

Sudan: Darfur

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have proposals (a) to support, or propose the earliest possible deployment of, a United Nations Force in Chad; (b) to call for the enforcement of a no fly zone over the whole of Darfur; and (c) to enforce existing and new sanctions against major officials in Khartoum.

Answer: The UK strongly supported UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1706, which, inter alia, asked the UN to report on possible options for a UN operation in Chad. An assessment team has recently deployed to Chad and we expect the UN Secretary-General to report back to the Security Council later this month. We will consider all options with our Security Council partners. Under UNSCR 1564 the Government of Sudan (GoS) are obliged to refrain from all ““hostile military overflights”” of Darfur. The GoS themselves committed to this in the Abuja Security Protocol, signed on 9 November 2004. We continue to press the Government to abide by this commitment. With our Security Council partners we will consider all options which may help to improve the security situation in Darfur. The UK strongly supported UNSCR 1672, passed in April this year, which imposed sanctions, a travel ban and an assets freeze, on four individuals from all sides to the conflict. We rigorously enforce all UN sanctions.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 548; 687 c189-90WA
Session: 2006-07
Subjects: Peacekeeping operations Military aircraft United Nations Sanctions Sudan Peace negotiations Darfur Chad
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk