U.S Pushes for Imposition of Arms Embargo on South Sudan

Nikki R. Haley, United States Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on 7 February 2017. (UN Photo)

January 25, 2018 (NEW YORK) - The United States on Wednesday called for an arms embargo on South Sudan after its warring parties failed to honour a ceasefire agreement signed late last year.

Addressing the United Nations Security Council, the US ambassador Nikki Haley to the world body criticized the President Salva Kiir-led coalition government of failing to lead efforts to end the civil war.

“The time has come to acknowledge the hard reality – that the leaders of South Sudan are not just failing their people, they are betraying them,” she told a council meeting on South Sudan.

The 15-member Security Council considers the revitalization of the peace process initiated by the regional bloc (IGAD) as an opportunity to end the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.

According to the senior US official, an arms embargo on South Sudan would help the people of South Sudan to slow the violence, slow the flow of arms and ammunitions and protect innocent lives.

The diplomat also appealed to African leaders, ahead of an African Union summit due in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia over the weekend to push for accountability for those seen as against the peace process.

In March last year, a UN panel of experts, in a report, called for an arms embargo on South Sudan after it emerged that its government was spending oil revenue on weapons as its citizens faced starvation. The call was, however, opposed by China and Russia, insisting regional nations must play a key role in resolving the problem.

South Sudan descended into war in mid-December 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup. The conflict has forced more than two million people to flee their homes.

(ST)