Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)

Sudan is a very large country with huge natural resources. It has some of the richest agricultural land in Africa running along the edge of the Nile. It has huge natural resources, particularly gold, and it has been long held that much of this conflict is about those natural resources. Indeed, the influence of outside powers in that and the attempt to try to plunder the wealth of that nation to the detriment of its people, is one of the age-old stories of conflict around the globe. Unfortunately, that is the same situation we have unfolding here. The RSF, backed by the United Arab Emirates, back in 2003, I think, when it was then called the Janjaweed, ran through Darfur and burned, pillaged and murdered. It was an absolutely catastrophe. For people to get it into their heads, that region of Dafur is the size of France. We are talking about a very large scale. For the people who live there, this has been a tragedy that is going on for decades. Unfortunately, we all watch our televisions every night and see different conflicts in different parts of the world. Unfortunately, many of these conflicts, particularly when they are in Africa, do not get the attention they should get. Many of us meet people from Sudan. There are a number of people I know such as Yousif, a friend of mine, who is from Sudan. There are two families living in Sligo who have family in El Fasher in Sudan and they cannot contact their families. They do not know what has happened to them, where they are or what the situation is. This is a real human tragedy for all of those people. A big part of that tragedy has been the treatment of women and girls in this conflict. When El Fasher fell, the maternity hospital was attacked and 460 women and girls were murdered. That is just one example. Internationally, this has not been given the level of attention it deserves to get. I worry and I am very concerned when we look at the peace programme that has been put in place. When people are talking about peace, we always accept that and want to see that happen. However, when we hear that it is Trump's United States, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, countries which have been up to their necks in this conflict, which are the ones proposing a peace agreement, it should raise concerns. There is a real need here, particularly for the United Nations but also for the European Union, to become involved on a much higher scale. We need positive international influence to bring peace about, not the negative international influence that has been there up to now to try to take advantage of the situation that is to the detriment of the people who live in this magnificent and beautiful country.

The thousands of tonnes of arms that have gone into Sudan over the past number of years is something that has also fed an arms industry that has backed both sides in the conflict. This is also part of the age-old story we have about conflicts around the globe. We recognise something which is a very common story but on which we have a responsibility to stand very firm. The people of Ireland have a great affinity with many countries in Africa, particularly as many of our missionaries in the past went there and were such a positive influence there. We now have an opportunity to be a positive influence again.

I welcome the words of the Minister earlier when she said that Ireland wants to play its part in that. We certainly need to be a loud and solid voice for the ordinary people of Sudan to find a peaceful way out of this conflict and to bring to bear positive international pressure to make that happen. We also have to bring to bear positive international pressure for the malign influence of other countries from outside of Sudan, which have been detrimental to this conflict, to pull back and allow a proper peace process to be established in Sudan.

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