Background and acknowledgements
In September 2004 the Committee announced its inquiry
into Darfur. The aims of the inquiry have been to examine the
effectiveness of the international community's response to the
crisis and to promote a more effective response, as well as to
ensure that, once the immediate crisis is over, the international
community learns the lessons and remains engaged. We held a preliminary
evidence session with NGOs in September and have since held six
further evidence sessions. We have also received written evidence
from twenty organisations including Governments, UN agencies,
development NGOs, human rights organisations, and research institutes.
In addition, six Members of the Committee visited Sudan for a
week at the end of January 2005.
We are grateful to all those who gave evidence to
the inquiry, and to the many others who have otherwise assisted
us. We would like to thank especially the following individuals
and organisations who gave oral evidence: the Rt Hon Hilary Benn
MP, Secretary of State for International Development and the officials
from DFID and from the Foreign Office who accompanied him; Mr
Jan Egeland, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator; Mr Oliver Ulich, Humanitarian
Affairs Officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA); Dr Mukesh Kapila, Former UN Resident and
Humanitarian Co-ordinator for the Sudan; Dr Suliman Baldo,
International Crisis Group; Ms Maniza Ntekim, Amnesty
International UK; Mr Steve Crawshaw, Human Rights Watch;
and Mr Toby Porter, Save the Children UK, representing
the Sudan Advocacy Coalition.
In relation to the visit, we would like to thank:
the British Embassy and DFID staff in Sudan for their assistance
with organising an extremely useful visit; the aid-workers and
UN officials whose time we took up in order to understand a little
better the complexities of Sudan; the Sudanese Ministers and officials
who met with us; and, the people of Darfur whose hopes we may
have raised by our brief visit. We trust that our report, and
any impact it might have, will go some way to repaying their generosity
and hospitality.
Figure 1: A map of the Sudan
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