Speeches by Harding.

“Can I return to your comments on Foreign Secretary Lammy during the Zamzam camp attack? What should have happened, in your opinion, at that point? What statement should the UK have made?”

“Does that give you confidence that you can take more preventative action for El Obeid than happened for El Fasher?”

“Matthew, can I ask—and I think this will become a theme throughout this afternoon—about the supporting actors in this: the countries that surround Myanmar geographically or that are interested in Myanmar, and where you expect that push for accountability to come from? Is it from the usual suspects and, in that, is Amer…”

“Can I just return to focus on the UK itself? Has there been enough focus from the UK in the last decade on Myanmar particularly? Often when we ask the Government whether they can sort this country out, they say, “We cannot be everywhere all at once. We do not have the budget to do all this.” What would be your response…”

“Can I return to your comments on Foreign Secretary Lammy during the Zamzam camp attack? What should have happened, in your opinion, at that point? What statement should the UK have made?”

“Matthew, can I ask—and I think this will become a theme throughout this afternoon—about the supporting actors in this: the countries that surround Myanmar geographically or that are interested in Myanmar, and where you expect that push for accountability to come from? Is it from the usual suspects and, in that, is Amer…”

“Looking at Sudan today and what seems to be a threat in El Obeid happening right now, what would be your advice now to the Foreign Secretary?”

“I want to come back to the gap. I think we can accept, while we do not approve, that the gap between general elections may structurally produce the results that you have talked about. It is still true to say that at the point at which the new Government came in, atrocity prevention was not a priority. Push back at me i…”

“Does that give you confidence that you can take more preventative action for El Obeid than happened for El Fasher?”

“You speak about two incidents. One was in May 2024 and the next was in October 2024. During that time, there was a change of Government. Is it your understanding that that attitude towards the UAE, or the pressure that was being put on the Government, was the same and that Ministers were acting in the same way despite …”

“Yes.”

“I am very keen to hear about the ISF too. Minister, I was in Adré, as I know you have been. I was told there that they expected after the fall of El Fasher, 90,000 people to cross the border and only 45,000 arrived. There are many missing and the estimates put the number who were killed in the fall of El Fasher at 60,0…”

“Can I just return to focus on the UK itself? Has there been enough focus from the UK in the last decade on Myanmar particularly? Often when we ask the Government whether they can sort this country out, they say, “We cannot be everywhere all at once. We do not have the budget to do all this.” What would be your response…”

“Just to be clear, had the UK Government called out the UAE, there would have been lives saved?”

“You speak about two incidents. One was in May 2024 and the next was in October 2024. During that time, there was a change of Government. Is it your understanding that that attitude towards the UAE, or the pressure that was being put on the Government, was the same and that Ministers were acting in the same way despite …”

“Do you have any evidence, or can you give us any understanding, of the pressure that the UAE was putting on the UK Government?”

“Just to be clear, had the UK Government called out the UAE, there would have been lives saved?”

“I want to come back to the gap. I think we can accept, while we do not approve, that the gap between general elections may structurally produce the results that you have talked about. It is still true to say that at the point at which the new Government came in, atrocity prevention was not a priority. Push back at me i…”

“I understand that it is not straightforward, but we have heard evidence in the session before this that the British UK Government’s reluctance to name and shame led to a loss of lives in El Fasher. How do we make sure that that is not the case now, when it is looming in El Obeid?”

“Has there been an internal review process since the fall of El Fasher on what the FCDO’s response to it was?”