UN set to impose arms embargo on South Sudan

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UNITED NATIONS, United States, July 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The UN Security
Council will vote Friday on imposing an arms embargo on South Sudan and
sanctions on two military officials after the latest diplomatic efforts
failed to end nearly five years of war.

The United States circulated a revised draft resolution on Thursday that
diplomats said is likely to be adopted, imposing a ban on arms sales to South
Sudan until May 2019.

The measure expresses “deep concern at the failures of South Sudan’s
leaders to bring an end to the hostilities” and would renew until May 2019
sanctions imposed on South Sudan.

South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011, with critical backing from
the United States, which remains Juba’s biggest aid donor.

Countless efforts have failed to bring peace to the country now in its
fifth year of a war that has seen ethnic killings, gang rapes and other
atrocities documented by UN rights officials.

Former military chief Paul Malong and Malek Ruben Riak, a former deputy
chief of general staff for logistics, would be added to the UN sanctions
blacklist and hit by a global visa ban and assets freeze, according to the
text.

The United States had initially proposed sanctions against three ministers
in President Salva Kiir’s government, including the defense minister, but
they were dropped from the proposed blacklist during negotiations.

– No veto from China, Russia –

China and Russia had resisted the US push for tougher action on South
Sudan, but a Security Council diplomat said that they would not resort to
their veto power to block the measure, suggesting they could instead abstain.

A draft resolution requires nine votes and no veto to be adopted in the 15-
member council.

Ethiopia, which has led a regional peace effort, on Thursday said it
opposed the draft resolution and asked the United States to drop the arms
embargo and proposed sanctions, according to an email seen by AFP.

But its appeal was rejected and the United States confirmed on Thursday
that the measure would be put to a vote.

A Security Council diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the
arms embargo would “maintain the right level of pressure” on South Sudan to
push for an end to the conflict.

South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013 when Kiir accused former
vice president Riek Machar of plotting a coup.

In the years since, tens of thousands have been killed and millions have
been uprooted. Seven million South Sudanese, more than half of the
population, are in need of food aid, according to the UN.

Earlier Thursday, South Sudan’s parliament voted to allow Kiir to remain in
power until 2021, a move that will complicate negotiations with Machar on a
power-sharing deal.

The United States has repeatedly threatened to impose an arms embargo and
sanctions against those blocking efforts to end the war.

In 2016, Washington failed to win enough votes at the Security Council for
the arms embargo and targeted sanctions.