The UK is engaging closely with Mauritania, the G5 Sahel Presidency, on the recent withdrawal of Niger and Burkina Faso. We continue to discuss the impacts of the withdrawals on the Sahel Coalition and the Alliance Sahel with partners, with a meeting of the Coalition planned for 14 December. The UK stands with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in calling for the restoration of democracy in Niger. Mauritania remains an important regional partner and we are working with NATO partners on a Defence Capacity Building programme for the country. I met with the Mauritanian Ambassador in London on 11 December.

The UK is committed to building stability and bolstering conflict resolution across West Africa and the Sahel. We regularly raise security issues with governments in the region. For example, in July and August, the Foreign Secretary discussed insecurity with Ghanian Minister for National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah and Nigerian National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu. I also have regular discussions with my counterparts in the region. The UK supports a number of regional programmes which are aimed at tackling the root causes of conflict, including combatting the rise of disinformation and ethnically stigmatising narratives. The Fulani community are particularly vulnerable to conflict, and we are in discussion with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) regarding the support provided to Fulani refugees.

The Integrated Review sets out the Government's approach to security, defence, development and foreign policy across the world, including with African countries. In line with current practice, we have no plans at present to publish a written version of an Integrated Review sub-strategy on the Sahel or sub-Saharan Africa. We continue to share information on the implementation of our approach through various channels including speeches, visits, articles and social media. Our vision in Africa remains to promote British interests through partnerships with African countries and institutions that lead to a freer, safer, more prosperous, healthier and greener continent.

In 2023, over 25,000 people in the Sahel are expected to face famine conditions, and close to 1 million people are expected to face emergency levels of food insecurity which is one step away from famine. In 2022 it was estimated that over 1.2 million children in the Sahel suffered from severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous form of malnutrition. Similar levels are expected in 2023. The UK is a committed donor to the Sahel; in the past year alone, we provided over £300 million in total to the region. I will attend the Africa Food Summit in Dakar this week [25-27 January].

The UK welcomes the publication by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner and recognises the connection between climate change and migration in the Sahel; a region where the temperature is rising 1.5 times faster than the global average. There are more than 5 million internally displaced people in the region, with many seeking refuge in neighbouring countries due to the deteriorating humanitarian and security situation which is being exacerbated by climate change and environmental degradation. At COP27 in November 2022, the Foreign Secretary confirmed the UK will provide £200 million to the African Development Bank's Climate Action Window to help vulnerable countries, including those in the Sahel, adapt to the impacts of climate change. This funding comes in addition to the £19.5 million pledged by the UK at COP26 which is supporting communities in the region to cope with climate shocks.

The UK is committed to working with partners in Europe, the Sahel and West Africa to foster long-term stability, address drivers of conflict, call out human rights abuses and violations, promote democracy and tackle climate change. On 11 November, the Foreign Secretary travelled to Paris to meet France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs where they discussed climate change and Russia's invasion of Ukraine which we know is exacerbating food and fuel prices in the region. The Foreign Secretary's visit reaffirmed the essential partnership between France and the UK, and the importance of cooperation in addressing global challenges.

The United Nations currently estimates that the food crisis in the Sahel region of west Africa has left over 18 million people at risk of food shortage over the next few months. Of these, 8 million people require urgent assistance.

UK contributions stand at £25.4 million.

This British aid will support 1.6 million people at risk of hunger across Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso, to achieve the following results:

Improved nutrition for 185,000 children and women, including therapeutic treatment to save the lives of over 110,000 severely malnourished children under five years old;

Food and cash vouchers for over 250,000 men, women and children;

Livelihoods support to over 980,000 people through:

1. The provision of seeds and tools for families to enable them to feed themselves for the next year and;

2. Animal feed and vaccinations to keep farmers' livestock alive.

These direct funds are in addition to £27 million of UK contributions also being provided in 2012 to the Sahel region through multilateral agencies such as the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

UK officials continue to monitor the situation closely, and liaise with our opposite numbers in other governments to urge other countries also to take their fair share of the response.

The Department for International Development (DFID) is currently providing urgent humanitarian aid to 1.6 million men, women and children across the Sahel region of West Africa.

We are also keen to do what we can to protect people from future food crises. To do so, we are improving resilience in the Sahel through social protection programmes and livelihoods support. As co-chair of the Political Champions Group on Resilience, I have been driving international discussions on improving resilience in West Africa and elsewhere.

Firstly, we will work through multilateral partners— the World Bank, United Nations and European Commission—to ensure that their investments in the region support the development and expansion of social safety net programmes. Secondly, the UK is funding the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which is promoting agricultural-led economic growth to reduce poverty. A number of Sahelian countries have prepared investment plans for CAADP. Thirdly, DFID is a major funder of the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR), which includes Niger as one of its priority countries. PPCR, which is managed by the World Bank, is supporting a $63 million programme in Niger to improve the resilience of the populations and production systems to climate change and variability, which in turn should improve national food security.

The AgResults initiative, launched at the G20 summit by the Prime Minister, provides economic incentives to private sector actors in smallholder agriculture in developing countries. The initiative will develop and ensure the uptake of innovative technologies with the potential to yield high development impacts. These innovative financing mechanisms will be relevant to smallholders in developing countries, including those in the Sahel. The first three pilots will take place in Africa, and will benefit maize producers in Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia.

According to latest reports by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 18 million men, women and children across the Sahel region of West Africa are at risk of food shortages in the coming months. This includes over 1.5 million children under the age of five, who are at risk of becoming severely malnourished.

I have recently announced a further package of UK support to help mitigate the crisis. Through this assistance, British aid will support over 1.4 million people at risk of hunger across Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso in 2012.

UK officials continue to monitor the situation closely and liaise with their opposite numbers in other Governments to ensure that other countries take their fair share of the response.

In direct response to severe food shortages in the Sahel region of West Africa, I have announced three packages of UK support to help mitigate the crisis, one in January, one in March and one earlier this month.

Through this assistance, British aid will support over 1.4 million people at risk of hunger across Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. More than 100,000 children at risk of starvation across the region will receive immediate lifesaving treatment.

As well as responding to the current crisis, the UK is supporting efforts to promote resilience in the Sahel. We believe that helping communities to become more resistant to climatic and economic shocks must be a priority, to prevent future food insecurity in the region.

UK officials continue to monitor the situation closely and liaise with their opposite numbers in other Governments to ensure that other countries take their fair share of the response.

Britain has responded quickly and consistently to provide assistance to the worst affected areas, but it is vital that other donors step forward to carry their share of the international response. To this end I have personally spoken with Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, and Pascal Canfin, the French Development Minister.

Officials from my Department have also met with representatives from the Governments of France, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands; lobbied a group of officials from Nordic countries, and raised the Sahel crisis at a meeting attended by representatives from EU member states.

We will continue to engage in regular discussions with our counterparts in other governments, within the European Union and beyond, to help ensure an effective response.

In direct response to severe food shortages in the Sahel region of West Africa, I have announced three packages of UK support to help mitigate the crisis, one in January, one in March and one earlier this month.

Through this assistance, British aid will support over 1.4 million people at risk of hunger across Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. More than 100,000

children at risk of starvation in across the region will receive immediate lifesaving treatment.

As well as responding to the current crisis, the UK is supporting efforts to promote resilience in the Sahel. We believe that helping communities to become more resistant to climatic and economic shocks must be a priority, to prevent future food insecurity in the region.

UK officials continue to monitor the situation closely and liaise with their opposite numbers in other Governments to ensure that other countries take their fair share of the response.

[Continued in Column 779W]

We understand from sources within the United Nations that the planned African Union Conference has been put on hold. Once a revised date has been scheduled and a draft agenda issued, we will be in a more appropriate position to consider whether the UK is represented by a Minister or by a suitably qualified official.

We understand from sources within the United Nations that the planned African Union Conference has been put on hold. Once a revised date has been scheduled and a draft agenda issued, we will be in a more appropriate position to consider the extent of UK participation.

We are engaging and monitoring progress on the ECOWAS PREPARE proposal. Food price volatility poses a very significant risk to food security in the Sahel. We welcome the proposal's regional focus, but have some concerns about certain aspects of the design, for example why food transfer is the only option considered and the level of participation by the 11 target countries in the design process. More work is needed on the project before we can consider UK support.

The UK has been a major supporter of social protection programmes in Africa and recognises that providing poor people with social safety nets helps reduce their vulnerability to food crises. In drought-prone countries where the Department for International Development (DFID) has bilateral development programmes, we have made major investments in social protection programmes such as the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia and the Hunger Safety Net Programme in Kenya.

In the Sahel we recognise that it is vital to expand social protection programmes to protect people from future food crises. Without bilateral programmes in the region, DFID cannot provide direct support to national social protection programmes; however our multilateral partners—notably the World Bank and the United Nations—do support social safety net programmes in the Sahel.

The amount allocated by the Government to food security in the Sahel in 2010, 2011 and 2012 is as follows:

Funds allocated in 2010 and 2012 were provided in response to the food crisis in those years. There was no food crisis in the Sahel in 2011—funds shown as allocated in 2011 were utilised for ongoing recovery programmes following the 2010 crisis.

UK officials continue to monitor current the situation closely, and liaise with their opposite numbers to ensure that other countries take their fair share of the response.

The UK has responded early to the food crisis in the Sahel. To ensure maximum impact from UK funds in supporting the most vulnerable, we will support over 400,000 people across the region in 2012. This will achieve the following results:

(a) 155,000 children and women will benefit from improved nutrition, including 87,000 children under five to be treated for severe acute malnutrition;

(b) 153,000 people will receive food; and

(c) over 100,000 people will benefit from community livelihood support such as animal food and vaccinations and cash transfers.

UK officials continue to monitor the situation closely.