I wish to raise the humanitarian disaster in Sudan which has been going on for two years. The Deputy Leader raised it yesterday. More than 12 million people have already been displaced and many millions face severe malnutrition and famine. It is an extraordinarily severe humanitarian situation. People are facing starvation and dying for lack of food and medicine while conflict carries on with no indications that the two sides, the Sudanese government and the RSF, or the respective international backers, including the UAE, are willing to engage in any sort of peace talks. I am gravely concerned for the civilians of Sudan and the inability to get humanitarian aid into the country.

Many people often say to all of us that we talk about Gaza but never about Sudan. In some ways they are probably right. It has in many ways been a forgotten war. There are reasons for that. Information and connectivity in Gaza has been a lot greater. Many of the wars and genocides currently being undertaken are David and Goliath-type genocides and wars. There is no clear, sharp narrative about what is happening. People do not have a start and an end and it has been going on for quite a while. I have spoken to a number of people from the Sudanese community. They care deeply about Gaza as well as the nightmare that they themselves are facing. They actually resent the fact that Sudan is not getting the attention and is being used as a way to invalidate support for Palestine and people in Gaza. It is important to state that.

The situation is escalating by the day and the world can no longer avert its eyes and ignore what is happening. It is already one of the most significant crises in the world and has the potential to be a disaster of historic proportions. Like the Deputy Leader, I believe we need to focus on this and look to see what the EU can do to ensure the supply of arms into Sudan ends now.