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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Mr. Dawson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what lessons have been learned from the performance of the Civilian Protection Monitoring Team in order to ensure that the new Verification and Monitoring Team can respond (a) rapidly and (b) effectively to reports of fighting within southern Sudan. [100704] Mr. Rammell: Representatives of the Inter- Governmental Authority on Development, the Government of Sudan, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, observers at the Sudan peace talks and the Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) have been meeting in Nairobi to discuss the establishment of the verification mechanism envisaged in the Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding on Cessation of Hostilities, signed on 4 February. The verification monitoring team will initially be based on an expanded CPMT because the latter has assets on the ground. A fuller mission will be established as soon as is practically possible. We expect the designers of the mission to draw lessons from the experiences of the CPMT. However the CPMT and the new mission have essentially different mandates and terms of reference. The UK stands ready to provide financial and practical support to the new mission.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

100704; 400 c1071W;400 c1061W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Armed conflict Civilians Protection Monitoring Sudan Peace negotiations

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk