Mr. Michael Gaffey:

I thank Deputy Stanton. We note that he raises Sudan in the Dáil very regularly. It is interesting to note and link the two themes. When Irish Aid was established back in 1974 Sudan was one of the first countries Ireland worked in, right up to the end of the 1980s - it may have been 1989 - when we stopped working directly there, in part because of the very bad human rights record. We have a lot of connections with Sudan historically but also through that work and especially in the area of health and medicine. We also built up links between Ireland and Sudan, which we have kept alive over the years and which keep us in touch with what is happening, even when it is difficult to act directly on the ground.

The Sudanese community in Ireland is very large. As the Deputy has said, a large number of doctors are working in the Irish health service and making a huge contribution to Ireland. They have remained in contact with their families at home insofar as they can. They are also advocating strongly with us for Sudan. We are in touch with them all of the time.

At the start of the crisis, in the first month, we evacuated some 350 Irish citizens from Sudan. Many of those are dual citizens, Sudanese and Irish, which is a result of the large numbers of Sudanese who have lived in Ireland over the years. We have estimates of the exact number of Irish citizens still in Sudan. It depends on those who have registered and not everybody has registered, so I would not want to be too specific on it. It is not a huge number but there are citizens still there. The situation is really difficult for everyone in the whole country.

The Deputy hit the nail on the head when he described the two leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. Having thwarted the efforts to have a democratic transition, they fell out essentially in a fight for power. Apart from this military stalemate, there are a lot of reasons the conflict is not ending. There are interests the two main sides have economically and the interests that some from outside Sudan have economically, in terms of the resources of Sudan, which include gold and other minerals. There are too many parties interested in sustaining the conflict for their own purposes, which is just not acceptable.

The Deputy asked why the crisis is not receiving more attention. The crisis in Gaza would not be receiving attention if it were not for the large number of young Palestinian journalists who stayed behind to report on social media and through some of the more traditional media from their own places. One of the problems in Sudan is that at the start most of the international people left. They did not expect the crisis to go on for so long. The crisis is devastating and is destroying everything. Apart from a few notable exceptions, there is not sufficient attention in the media.

It is particularly useful for us in the European Union that we have an EU special representative for the Horn of Africa, Dr. Annette Weber. Dr. Weber works very hard on Sudan. The Tánaiste met with her when we were in Kenya. Dr. Weber is engaging with all the parties all of the time and is reporting back to the EU member states on developments and how the parties are thinking. It was because of our engagement with her, with Sudanese people here and with our political system that the Government took the initiative to raise Sudan at the European Council. Ireland put Sudan on the agenda of the European Council. Conclusions were adopted and will be followed up. As a result, the Foreign Affairs Council will discuss the situation in Sudan in November. There will be examination of further sanctions and further listings of entities and individuals responsible for supporting activities. The EU will continue to work with the UN and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and with the International Criminal Court, on the reports of violations of human rights.

Critically, Ireland has been calling for civil protection - protection of civilians - and looking at how we can improve the position of civilians in the current situation where neither of the main belligerents is paying any attention to human rights or the welfare of the citizens of Sudan. It is a difficult one but it is very important for the EU to now work closely with the African Union and the UN on possibilities for some mechanism, maybe an international mechanism or maybe one led by Africans, to focus on the protection of civilians. We see that as a priority.

The real challenge is how to deliver assistance effectively, not just within Sudan but in the neighbouring countries, as the Deputy mentioned. That is the major challenge, including for the whole UN system. The Horn of Africa was a very unstable region, with conflicts drawing attention originally in Ethiopia and also with the situation in Somalia. Further to the west, as one moves towards the Sahel, there is a lot of instability and some of the neighbours of Sudan such as Chad risk being overwhelmed by this conflict.

We have to look through the international system at how we can provide assistance both inside and within Sudan. The challenge within Sudan is to find those local groups, emergency rooms and committees of people that grew out of the original resistance committees during the revolution for a democratic transition, and to work with local actors. That is difficult but through the Sudan Humanitarian Fund, run by the UN, we are managing to ensure that some progress is being made and that real work is being carried out at a local level. We really would not want to underestimate the extent of this crisis. It looks like there will be an upsurge of violence in the coming months. The situation is not looking hopeful. We discussed this with Irish NGOs that presented to the committee. It is essential that all of us, including officials, Government, politicians and civil society raise the Sudanese issue, although not at the expense of any other issue, with the Irish public and that we continue that work in the European Union and United Nations, because sometimes the voice of a country like Ireland is needed on this if others that may have more direct interests stay silent or are focused elsewhere. Our interests in Sudan are driven by humanitarian concern and our links with the people of Sudan over the years.