Ms Caoimhe de Barra:

This is an important matter, as there is zero protection for civilians in Sudan. In fact, the protection of civilians is not something that Ireland has been strong on for many years. There were two forces until relatively recently. There was UNAMID up to 2020. It was concerned with protection and ensuring a range of issues across the country and was focused on Darfur. It was wound down for political reasons, namely, resistance from the then Government of Sudan. In line with many other UN peacekeeping, peace enforcement and protection of civilians forces, there was an issue with funding and the willingness of UN members to fund these kinds of forces. Other forces that are badly needed also suffer funding issues, for example, in the DRC. More recently, there was a joint UN-African Union mission, called UNITAMS. It had an express dimension of protection of civilians, but it was wound down at the end of last year in the middle of the conflict as a result of political pressure.

The peace negotiations are effectively stalled. There are strands that have been live for the past few months, but no progress has been made since the Jeddah declaration last year. Given this, the fact that the conflict looks like it is going to endure and the scale of the atrocities against civilians, it becomes impossible not to say that there needs to be a protection force in Sudan. It needs to be UN mandated, but it could be a joint UN-African Union mission. As to which countries would support and staff it, that would be a matter for the UN, in particular the offices in New York. However, Ireland has been a troop-contributing country for more years than any of us know and has an unbroken record in that regard, so Ireland could have a role in some capacity in supporting a protection of civilians mission.