UN votes narrowly to extend arms embargo on South Sudan

United Nations (AP) – The United Nations Security Council on Thursday voted by a narrow margin to extend an arms embargo on South Sudan and a year-long travel ban and financial sanctions for targeted individuals.

For a motion to be approved by a 15-member council, it needs at least nine “yes” votes and is not vetoed by a permanent member. The vote was 10-0 on a US-draft proposal on South Sudan sanctions, with the exclusion of China, Russia, India, Kenya and Gabon.

South Sudan has repeatedly called for the lifting of the arms embargo, and five countries have opposed the sanctions.

But earlier this month, a UN panel of experts monitoring sanctions against South Sudan recommended that the Security Council increase the arms embargo due to “frequent ceasefire violations” and intensifying violence in the country’s regions. .

Experts said the government’s purchase of about 25 new armored personnel carriers for the police, shown in a March photo, is a violation of the UN arms embargo.

The panel said the violence, flooding and displacement have created “unprecedented levels of food insecurity across much of the country”, stressing that the situation of millions of citizens is “worsening”.

It cited a UN World Food Program warning in March that South Sudan was facing its “worst hunger crisis ever”, with around 8.3 million people in need of food by December and 1.4 million children “acutely”. malnourished”.

China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun opposed experts and proponents of the resolution, saying the world’s newest nation, which has gone through a decade of war, “has a poor and weak foundation and has been subjected to sanctions pressure from the international community.” No, but constructive support is needed.”

He added that the African Union and the East African Regional Group IGAD have long opposed the “council punishment of this youngest brother of Africa”. South Sudan’s problems need to be addressed through political means, emphasizing that in many cases “the pressure of sanctions is not only ineffective, but also impairs the ability of the government of South Sudan to build security capabilities in the protection of civilians”. also prohibits it,” he said.

Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Anna Evstigneeva said Moscow was “not trying to de-escalate the situation in this young country, which still has many challenges to overcome.” But he said the government had made “definite progress” and needed to “work on building up its armed forces today.”

Kenya’s Deputy UN Ambassador Michael Kibino said his country did not participate because the Council did not lift the arms embargo and targeted sanctions as stated by the AU and IGAD, and that the Council did not commit to progressively lifting the measures. was made.

“We believe that arms embargo and targeted sanctions have not been effective tools in support of the South Sudan peace process,” he said.

When oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long struggle, there were high hopes. But the country fell into civil war in December 2013, based largely on ethnic divisions, when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir battled those loyal to Vice President Riek Machar.

Tens of thousands of people died in the war, which ended with a 2018 peace deal that brought Keir and Machar together in a government of national unity. But challenges remained, including the government’s failure to implement the promised reforms.

The resolution adopted on Thursday recognizes that a permanent ceasefire was upheld by the parties in much of the country, but does not address the Security Council’s “dangerous and deep concern about the political, security, economic and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan”. repeats.

It strongly condemns the ongoing fighting in the country and stresses that “there can be no military solution to the situation in South Sudan.”

The resolution also strongly condemns “past and ongoing human rights violations and violations and violations of international humanitarian law, including the alarming increase in conflict-related sexual violence.”

It extends the arms embargo and sanctions until May 31, 2023, and mandates for a panel of experts until July 1, 2023.

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