UN extends arms embargo for South Sudan

The UN Security Council voted Tuesday to extend an arms embargo and sanctions imposed on individuals in troubled South Sudan, urging all parties to “avoid a relapse into widespread conflict.”

South Sudan became an independent nation after it broke free from Sudan in 2011. But the world’s youngest country has lurched from crisis to crisis, enduring political turmoil, natural disasters and hunger.

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Between 2013 and 2018, 400,000 people died and millions were displaced as the country was mired in civil war.

The council resolution drafted by the United States was approved with 10 votes in favor and five members abstaining.

It expresses concern over “the continued intensification of violence prolonging the political, security, economic, and humanitarian crisis in most parts of the country.”

It extended the embargo on sales of arms until May 31, 2024.

The countries that abstained were China, Russia, Ghana, Gabon and Mozambique.

The three African countries said the sanctions were counterproductive and did not reflect progress they said South Sudan had made.

The ambassador from South Sudan, Akuei Bona Malwal, protested the vote, expressing “the objection of my country of the resolution just adopted. It is done in bad faith, ill intention.”

From 2013 to 2018, South Sudan suffered through a civil war pitting forces loyal to two sworn enemies, Salva Kiir, who is now president, and Riek Machar.

Despite a peace accord signed in 2018, violence continues and as of April of this year 2.3 million people in South Sudan were classified as internally displaced.

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