Vol. 428 No. 1
97 Mr. Connor asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps, if any, he has taken to encourage the Government of Sudan to allow free food aid to the famine-stricken southern regions of the country; if his attention has been drawn to the most recent evidence showing the shocking and appalling state the famine situation in that country has now reached; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
131 Mrs. Owen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the support, if any, he will give to Sudan in view of the increasing threat of starvation to many thousands of its inhabitants.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 97 and 131 together.
The Government have announced that they are allocating £500,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance towards relief efforts in Southern Sudan. The money is being channelled through Irish NGOs which are assisting in the region and through the United Nations Operation Lifeline Sudan. We have also been in contact with our European partners and with the EC Commission in order to ensure that there is a concerted and speedy European response to this humanitarian crisis.
Together with our EC partners, we have been pressing the Government of Sudan to improve the human rights situation in the country and to allow relief agencies access to those in need. The Government of Sudan is now permitting airlifts of emergency food and medical supplies into Southern Sudan. While the precise dimensions of the crisis have still to emerge, there is clearly an urgent need for large-scale emergency assistance for the people of the area, who are suffering as a result of war and drought and the displacement of large sections of the population. We will continue to monitor the humanitarian situation in Southern Sudan carefully in order to help avert the possibility of a tragedy of the proportions of the crisis in Somalia.
