Foreign Secretary speech on the twenty first Manama Dialogue Convention in Bahrain

This is a good pleasure to be right here in Bahrain to hitch pals on the stage.

Let me start by thanking His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa…

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister…

And the International Institute for Strategic Studies for bringing us collectively.

This the twenty first Manama dialogue.

This gathering has been an essential alternative to debate the options for regional points that affect the entire world.

The Syrian battle efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program, the conflict in Gaza or terrorism or cyber safety right this moment, I believe it’s essential.

It represents rather more than that. Security points have by no means been extra associated.

The assaults on transport within the Red Sea impacting on international commerce, Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine impacting on the safety and economies of Europe, the Middle East and past, and the unfolding disaster in Sudan that might have a lot wider regional and international implications.

And this morning’s session is on international safety governance at a time when regional conflicts are impacting on international safety, when multilateral frameworks are being questioned, however but when worldwide cooperation is essential to attaining the safety and peace that all of us see.

So I need to simply mirror briefly on a few of these most critical regional challenges to our international safety and why they require each that particular person management, but additionally the approaching collectively via modernised and agile multilateral partnerships and approaches if we’re to succeed.

Because as we meet right this moment, as Eamon and Johann have talked about, this ceasefire in Gaza has been in place for almost a month, and it comes after two years of essentially the most unimaginable struggling, which despatched destabilising shock waves all through the world.

It is fragile, however it’s in place, with many hostages lastly returned to their family members, with urgently wanted support beginning to improve, and a ceasefire that many thought would by no means occur, together with, I think, many individuals right here on this convention.

The incontrovertible fact that that ceasefire settlement was reached is a big tribute to the management of the US and President Trump, working alongside Qatar, Egypt and Turkey within the negotiations, but additionally backed by many extra, together with Jordan, together with Saudi together with the Arab League, together with many companions throughout Europe and the world.

This was a part of a diplomatic course of via the summer time, the work the New York Declaration that rejected Hamas, the historic resolution by the UK, France, Australia, Canada, Portugal and extra, to recognise the state of Palestine coming collectively on the UN and General Assembly.

Proposals put ahead by many countries the world over in the direction of a complete plan for peace, not only a ceasefire, and in the end, the decisive management introduced by President Trump and the US drawing collectively the 20 level plan.

But all of us know that this example continues to be immensely fragile. We’ve seen additional assaults. We’ve seen support stay a trickle not a flood. We’ve seen hostage households nonetheless ready for some stays.

And all events should ship on their commitments, and we have to, lean in to ensure we now have the momentum and the progress we’d like for a long-lasting peace, not merely the ceasefire.

Gaza should not get caught in a no-man’s land between peace and conflict and progress is pressing. The UK is dedicated to taking part in that half.

I agree with Johann that rising the stream of support is crucial.

Humanitarian support can’t be conditional.

We can’t depart kids nonetheless going through famine.

We can’t depart households desperately needing medical, well being care assist.

We want the progress on the governance proposals for a Gaza free from Hamas and enabled by reformed Palestinian Authority.

And we are going to want the brand new safety preparations in place via the stabilisation drive and Palestinian police as nicely.

The UK will assist this via drawing on our experience on civil army coordination and weapons decommissioning, the planning for long run reconstruction and serving to to unlock non-public finance.

We ought to count on all of this to should be underpinned not simply by one however by a collection of UN resolutions.

And we all know there is just one technique to get the simply and lasting peace, which is the 2 state resolution of Israel and Palestine residing peacefully facet by facet.

The challenges of the subsequent stage are going to be more durable than the primary, and it could be straightforward at this level for people, for nations, to begin to pull again or to stroll away, as a result of the challenges get too laborious.

But we now have come this far – we can’t put that progress in danger, and now could be extra essential than ever for our worldwide cooperation and for everybody to lean in.
In Gaza, there’s a prospect of fragile hope.

In Sudan proper now, there’s simply despair.

And simply as the mixture of management and worldwide cooperation has made progress on Gaza, it’s at present failing to take care of the humanitarian disaster and the devastating battle in Sudan.

The studies from Darfur in current days are actually horrifying atrocities, mass executions, hunger and the devastating use of rape as a weapon of War, with ladies and youngsters bearing the brunt of the biggest humanitarian disaster within the twenty first Century.

For too lengthy, this horrible battle has been uncared for, whereas struggling has merely elevated, while we now have put ahead resolutions of the UN Security Council demanding humanitarian entry.

Over a 12 months in the past, it was shamefully vetoed by Russia. Six months in the past, the convention in London didn’t obtain the target we would have liked of a typical method to ending this conflict.

Today, I’m saying from the UK Government an additional £5 million kilos of humanitarian assist in response to the violence in el Fasher, on high of the £120 million kilos the UK is already offering this 12 months throughout Sudan.

But no quantity of support can resolve a disaster of this magnitude till the weapons fall silent.
So the world should do extra, and meaning we’d like, simply as we united in assist of President Trump’s peace initiative in Gaza, a brand new worldwide drive to finish the conflict in Sudan, with a ceasefire that may staunch the bloodshed, with the assist not simply inside Sudan itself, however from the world over. Through the Quad, the UN and each discussion board too.

And, whether or not it’s via Sudan, whether or not it’s in Gaza, or whether or not it’s in Ukraine, the place Russia’s ongoing assault is threatening European safety, the place nobody desires a simply peace greater than Ukraine.

We will proceed to pursue financial sanctions till Putin abandons his failed conflict and will get prepared to barter for peace.

But in every of those instances, worldwide cooperation has been and continues to be essential.

Sometimes that has taken new drive via the Coalition of the Willing, via the partnerships constructed up round attaining the ceasefire settlement in Gaza.

In every of these instances, that management, has relied on these robust partnerships in place, and that’s the reason we have to regularly modernise our international structure to make sure that it may be there once we want it, to ship the safety and the peace which all of us want.

Thank you very a lot.