To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the level of cross-border violence between the Central African Republic and Darfur; and what estimate he has made of the number of people who have been internally displaced as a result of the violence. (226086)

We rely on United Nations' agencies to provide us with information on cross-border violence between the Central African Republic (CAR) and Darfur. They advise that bandit and poacher groups routinely carry out cross-border raids. They have reports of one cross-border attack on the town of Am Dafok in the CAR at the end of September by a group that retreated to a base in Sudan.

We cannot assess the number of those displaced because of such cross-border violence. However, the number of people internally displaced in CAR has fallen this year, and now stands at 108,000. The number displaced has also fallen in the Vakaga prefecture, which borders southern Darfur. According to the UN, security in the region has improved in recent months, partially as a result of the deployment of EUFOR, the EU Force in eastern Chad and north-eastern CAR.