The resumption of violence in Sudan following the end of the UK air bridge for UK refugees brings me great sadness.

I lived in Darfur, Sudan from 1989-1990. Even then it was a violent place, though nothing like what it was to become.

While I was there General Omar Bashir took power in a military coup and remained in control until February 2019.

His actions when he took control, specifically the killing of a friend of mine who commanded the military in the border town where I was based - El Geneina - led me to write a policy paper on extending the remit of the International Criminal Court, which I argued into Liberal Democrat party policy shortly before the coalition government took power in the UK in the 2010 General Election.

Now thanks to the violence, Bashir has escaped from prison, and lawlessness and war has returned to torment the Sudanese people.

Readers will recall the stories of NHS doctors from the Sudan who were eventually allowed to board the RAF mercy flights.

Sudan has many talented people and I remember my Sudanese engineer colleagues who worked with me on the Nyala / El Geneina water supply project. They are a good and talented people, who for too long have suffered from corrupt and murderous rulers.

There is talk that as many as a million refugees maybe created by this violence, and because of Sudan’s colonial links with the UK many of these traumatised people will look to come here.

How much better I ask myself to see law and order return to Sudan so that there is no need to flee their homeland in the first place.

Sadly, after years of cuts to the UK Aid budget one has to doubt whether the UK has the inclination or the ability to live up to its previous ability to influence world events. Such short-sightedness may well lead directly to more waves of refugees seeking sanctuary on our shores.

Dr Brian Mathew

Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for North Wiltshire

& Wiltshire Councillor for Box & Colerne