The U.K. government has bowed to pressure to review whether the scrapping of its conflict prevention program in Sudan meant it was “caught off guard” by the outbreak of civil war in April.
At a parliamentary hearing, a minister conceded there had been no evaluation into the impact of winding up work with civil society groups in the country prematurely, as part of steep cuts to the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.
“It was quite frankly shocking that the minister responsible for this key fund seemed unaware of its strategic importance, or the devastating impact the cuts were directly having on global security,” member of Parliament Sarah Champion, the Labour chair of the Commons International Development Committee, told Devex. She described CSSF as instrumental in “preventing escalation of violence in fragile states.”