The United Nations (UN) Security Council has renewed the arms embargo and sanctions against South Sudan through May 2023. The resolution to extend the ban was passed seeing as the situation and requirements to lift it have not been met or improved.
The embargo was imposed in 2018 after a peace agreement ended five years of bloody civil war between factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar.
The extension is also partly because when the embargo was extended in 2021, the authorities in South Sudan were given a list of political and security conditions for the restrictions to be lifted or relaxed that have yet to be met.
Additionally, the extension is due to a UN report that indicates that there have been multiple ceasefire violations as well as other violations including the government importation of armored vehicles.
South Sudan being the youngest nation, three African countries; Kenya, Gabon, and Ghana, requested the inclusion of a provision in the restrictions. The provision is for a possible easing of the restrictions for non-lethal military equipment if it is needed to fulfill the 2018 peace agreement.
The UN also recognizes that South Sudan and its people have not experienced peace in decades and as such most, of the citizens know nothing but war as such before the easing of the embargo; disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of combatants are very crucial next steps.
