To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to co-ordinate communication between the UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur and the UN-EU Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad; and if he will make a statement. (173699)

The UK led on UN Security Council Resolution 1769 which mandated the UN-African Union mission in Darfur (UNAMID), and we co-sponsored Security Council Resolution 1778 establishing the UN-EU mission in Chad/Central African Republic (CAR). We ensured that Resolution 1778 called for the force in Chad/CAR to liaise closely with UNAMID to exchange information on potential threats to humanitarian activities. We continue to underline the importance of co-operation between the two missions in Security Council consultations and in our discussions with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of whether the Government of Sudan is co-operating fully with efforts to deploy the UNAMIS force to Darfur; and if he will make a statement. (174179)

We have had a close dialogue over several months, at ministerial and official level, with the UN and other partners on deployment of the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). UN Under-Secretary-General Guehenno, Head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), told the UN Security Council on 27 November that the Government of Sudan was not co-operating on a range of issues over UNAMID deployment, including force composition, night flying rights, and the Status of Forces Agreement. Since then, representatives of the DPKO and the Government of Sudan have discussed these issues in Lisbon on 8 December, followed by further talks in Khartoum. We are awaiting further reports on progress that has come about as a result of those discussions.

I spoke with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 7 December about the delays to UNAMID’s deployment. In our contacts with the Government of Sudan, we are pressing them to co-operate fully with the DPKO and the African Union. We also continue to lobby other governments to support the deployment of UNAMID.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has made recent representations to the Sudanese government to expedite the deployment of a joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. (175515)

We have pressed the Sudanese government to co-operate fully with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) over the deployment of the UN-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur (UNAMID) in various contacts in the last two weeks.

On 27 November 2007, the UN Under-Secretary-General Guehenno, head of the DPKO, told the UN Security Council that the government of Sudan was not co- operating on a range of issues over UNAMID deployment. Since then, representatives of the DPKO and the government of Sudan discussed these issues in Lisbon on 8 December, followed by further talks in Khartoum. We are awaiting a report on the outcome of these discussions. We have made clear that the Sudanese government should fulfil its commitments and reach agreement with the UN on the remaining issues.