UN approves South Sudan arms embargo, sanctions

The UN Security Council voted on Friday on a resolution that imposes an arms embargo on South Sudan and sanctions top military officials.

The final draft resolution, obtained Thursday, expresses "deep concern" at the failure of South Sudan's leaders to end hostilities and condemns "the continued and flagrant violation" of agreements to stop fighting.

The US-sponsored resolution cleared through the nine "yes" vote threshold to pass at the 15-member council. 

The world's newest nation plunged into violence in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused his then-deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup. 

Machar belongs to the Nuer people, South Sudan's largest ethnic group in South Sudan, whereas Kiir belongs to the Dinka, the second-largest. 

The war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced about four million.

A peace deal signed in August 2015 didn't stop the fighting, nor did a cessation of hostilities agreement this past December and a declaration of a permanent ceasefire on 27 June.

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A resolution adopted by the council on 31 May threatened an arms embargo on South Sudan and sanctions against six people if UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reported by 30 June that fighting had not stopped and a political agreement wasn't reached.

In a 29 June letter to the council, Guterres said that "there have been credible reports of fighting" and UN peacekeepers had documented serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

A UN report released on Tuesday said South Sudan government troops and allied fighters killed at least 232 civilians in a five-week period this year, hanging some people from trees and burning others alive. It said the "deliberate, ruthless" attacks might amount to war crimes.

The resolution passed on Friday orders all countries to immediately prevent the direct or indirect supply or sale of weapons, ammunition, military vehicles and other equipment and spare parts to South Sudan until 31 May 2019. And it extends existing sanctions against South Sudanese officials until that date.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council in January that the US was giving up on South Sudan's president after backing the country's independence and investing over $11 billion since 2011. She called Kiir "an unfit partner" in the pursuit of peace and urged an arms embargo on the conflict-racked nation.

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