Foreign Secretary speech at the 21st Manama Dialogue Conference in Bahrain
The Foreign Secretary delivered a speech at the 21st Manama Dialogue Conference in Bahrain
This is a great pleasure to be here in Bahrain to join friends on the stage.
Let me begin 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 together.
This the 21st Manama dialogue.
This gathering has been an important opportunity to discuss the solutions for regional issues that impact the whole world.
The Syrian conflict efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program, the war in Gaza or terrorism or cyber security today, I think it is crucial.
It represents much more than that. Security issues have never been more related.
The attacks on shipping in the Red Sea impacting on global trade, Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine impacting on the security and economies of Europe, the Middle East and beyond, and the unfolding crisis in Sudan that could have much wider regional and global implications.
And this morning’s session is on global security governance at a time when regional conflicts are impacting on global security, when multilateral frameworks are being questioned, but yet when international cooperation is crucial to achieving the security and peace that we all see.
So I want to just reflect briefly on some of those most serious regional challenges to our global security and why they require both that individual leadership, but also the coming together through modernised and agile multilateral partnerships and approaches if we are to succeed.
Because as we meet today, as Eamon and Johann have talked about, this ceasefire in Gaza has been in place for nearly a month, and it comes after two years of the most unimaginable suffering, which sent destabilising shock waves throughout the world.
It is fragile, but it is in place, with many hostages finally returned to their loved ones, with urgently needed aid starting to increase, and a ceasefire that many thought would never happen, including, I suspect, many people here in this conference.
The fact that that ceasefire agreement was reached is a huge tribute to the leadership of the US and President Trump, working alongside Qatar, Egypt and Turkey in the negotiations, but also backed by many more, including Jordan, including Saudi including the Arab League, including many partners across Europe and the world.
This was part of a diplomatic process through the summer, the work the New York Declaration that rejected Hamas, the historic decision by the UK, France, Australia, Canada, Portugal and more, to recognise the state of Palestine coming together at the UN and General Assembly.
Proposals put forward by many nations across the world towards a comprehensive plan for peace, not just a ceasefire, and ultimately, the decisive leadership brought by President Trump and the US drawing together the 20 point plan.
But all of us know that this situation is still immensely fragile. We’ve seen further attacks. We’ve seen aid remain a trickle not a flood. We’ve seen hostage families still waiting for some remains.
And all parties must deliver on their commitments, and we need to, lean in to make sure we have the momentum and the progress we need for a lasting peace, not simply the ceasefire.
Gaza must not get stuck in a no-man’s land between peace and war and progress is urgent. The UK is committed to playing that part.
I agree with Johann that increasing the flow of aid is critical.
Humanitarian aid cannot be conditional.
We cannot leave children still facing famine.
We cannot leave families desperately needing medical, health care support.
We need the progress on the governance proposals for a Gaza free from Hamas and enabled by reformed Palestinian Authority.
And we will need the new security arrangements in place through the stabilisation force and Palestinian police as well.
The UK will support this through drawing on our expertise on civil military coordination and weapons decommissioning, the planning for long term reconstruction and helping to unlock private finance.
We should expect all of this to need to be underpinned not just by one but by a series of UN resolutions.
And we know there is only one way to get the just and lasting peace, which is the two state solution of Israel and Palestine living peacefully side by side.
The challenges of the next stage are going to be harder than the first, and it would be easy at this point for individuals, for nations, to start to pull back or to walk away, because the challenges get too hard.
But we have come this far - we cannot put that progress at risk, and now is more important than ever for our international cooperation and for everyone to lean in. In Gaza, there is a prospect of fragile hope.
In Sudan right now, there is just despair.
And just as the combination of leadership and international cooperation has made progress on Gaza, it is currently failing to deal with the humanitarian crisis and the devastating conflict in Sudan.
The reports from Darfur in recent days are truly horrifying atrocities, mass executions, starvation and the devastating use of rape as a weapon of War, with women and children bearing the brunt of the largest humanitarian crisis in the 21st Century.
For too long, this terrible conflict has been neglected, while suffering has simply increased, whilst we have put forward resolutions of the UN Security Council demanding humanitarian access.
Over a year ago, it was shamefully vetoed by Russia. Six months ago, the conference in London did not achieve the objective we needed of a common approach to ending this war.
Today, I’m announcing from the UK Government a further £5 million pounds of humanitarian support in response to the violence in el Fasher, on top of the £120 million pounds the UK is already providing this year across Sudan.
But no amount of aid can resolve a crisis of this magnitude until the guns fall silent. So the world must do more, and that means we need, just as we united in support of President Trump’s peace initiative in Gaza, a new international drive to end the war in Sudan, with a ceasefire that can staunch the bloodshed, with the support not just within Sudan itself, but from across the world. Through the Quad, the UN and every forum too.
And, whether it be through Sudan, whether it be in Gaza, or whether it be in Ukraine, where Russia’s ongoing assault is threatening European security, where no one wants a just peace more than Ukraine.
We will continue to pursue economic sanctions until Putin abandons his failed war and gets ready to negotiate for peace.
But in each of these cases, international cooperation has been and continues to be crucial.
Sometimes that has taken new force through the Coalition of the Willing, through the partnerships built up around achieving the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
In each of those cases, that leadership, has depended on those strong partnerships in place, and that is why we need to continually modernise our global architecture to ensure that it can be there when we need it, to deliver the security and the peace which all of us need.
Thank you very much.