Clare Short: "ceasefire is essential"

Speaking in the Commons, Ms Short repeated her earlier statements that there was no need for additional funds to provide humanitarian relief in Sudan and that any calls for more money could only cause "compassion fatigue" and would "muddle the message to the public".

The famine, Ms Short said, was entirely the result of the lack of access given to the relief agencies as a result on the ongoing war between the Sudanese government and Sudanese People's Liberation Army.

She said there was plenty of money and food for the war-torn nation - the problem was trying to get it to declare peace.

Fighting is causing the problem

Plea for pressure for a ceasefire

"The truth is, in Sudan, we don't need public appeals ... There is no shortage of resources of food or money, but what we need is as much pressure as we can get from the international community on the government of Sudan, which has been having some effect and on the southern factions.

"What we ideally need is a ceasefire and we could bring a trainload in and we could get the food to everyone who needs it in this big area."

Ms Short said the UK government and the European Union were both taking steps to bring about a ceasefire in Sudan in order to get aid to the starving.

She said: "No side can win this war by fighting and the people of Sudan will keep on suffering."

'Noble cause'

Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Gary Streeter makes his first appearance

The new Conservative spokesman on international development, Gary Streeter, made his first appearance at the despatch box where he was welcomed by the secretary of state and congratulated on his promotion.

Mr Streeter asked the secretary of state what action the government was planning to take on Third World debt redemption, which he said was a "Christian duty."

Ms Short replied that she believed it was the "moral duty" of people of any religion to give a chance to the poor of the world to climb out of their poverty.