Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 168: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the degree to which he and his EU or UN colleagues continue to monitor the situation in Chad, Darfur, and neighbouring countries with particular reference to addressing war, strife, starvation and human rights abuses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23945/08]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 174: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on the ongoing situation in Sudan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23951/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 and 174 together.

The situation in Darfur remains of grave concern, and the suffering of its people continues unabated. The fracturing of the main rebel groups over the past year, and the apparent determination of the Government of Sudan to pursue a military solution, at a high price in suffering for ordinary people, makes the search for peace even more difficult, and has also had negative impacts on neighbouring countries such as Chad and the Central African Republic.

In Darfur, ongoing conflict, including targeted attacks against aid workers and their assets, continues to constitute a major obstacle to humanitarian operations. In 2007, the EU collectively contributed some €320 million in funding to humanitarian endeavours across Sudan. Since 2006, the Irish Government has committed over €46 million in assistance to the people of Sudan, including Darfur. Through the military mission, EUFOR Chad/RCA under the operational command of Irish Lieutenant General Pat Nash, the EU is also helping provide security for those Darfuris who have fled across the border into neighbouring Chad.

The international community must of course go beyond alleviating the symptoms of this humanitarian crisis, and the EU and Ireland fully support UN and African Union efforts to bring about a lasting peace. So far, the process has been disappointingly slow, and a lack of political will is apparent on all sides. Despite these discouraging developments, there is no alternative to a political solution. Bilaterally, Ireland has contributed €500,000 to the UN Trust Fund in support of the peace talks.

Although peace will not come to Darfur until a political accommodation has been reached, UNAMID, the AU/UN hybrid force, has a role to play in re-establishing a secure environment for the people of Darfur. However, UNAMID is being hampered by the obstructive attitude of the Sudanese authorities to non-African participation. UN Secretary General Ban is working hard on force generation for UNAMID, and I hope that his efforts will bear further fruit.

The 2005 north-south Comprehensive Peace Agreement is currently under stress. The main issues causing tension in the Government of National Unity are troop deployment, border demarcation and the population census, and the status of the oil-rich Abyei region, where Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and Sudanese troops clashed in May 2008, displacing almost 50,000 people.

The problems of Sudan and Chad are interlinked, with each accusing the other of supporting rebel groups to undermine state stability. There is evidence that Sudan supported rebels attacking the Chadian capital N'djamena in February 2008, and Sudan accuses Chad of supporting a rebel attack on the outskirts of Khartoum in May 2008. The severe deterioration in Chad-Sudan relations is very disturbing, although I believe the deployment of EUFOR Chad/RCA has the potential to be increasingly a stabilising factor in the region.

On Monday the General Affairs and External Relations Council in Luxembourg discussed the situation in Sudan. The Council expressed its support for the pursuit and implementation of political solutions in Darfur and between north and south Sudan, while also calling for full co-operation with the International Criminal Court and urging Sudan and Chad to refrain from incursions into each other's territory and support for rebel groups.