United States Imposes Arms Embargo on South Sudan Brief February 5 2018

South Sudan president, Salva Kiir

Washington D.C

The United States state department imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan last Friday. The State Department's senior advisor on Sudan and South Sudan, Paul Sutphin, said that the decision will “restrict the flow of lethal material into South Sudan for all parties” and is part of a series of steps “to impose consequences on those who use violence to advance a political agenda.”

This decision highlights the Trump's administration growing frustration over that nation’s grinding civil war. This decision has little impact in halting the war since the United States does not sell weapons to the country. However, the announcement is the first step in a wider effort to curb weapons arriving in the country. Violence has prevented farmers from planting or harvesting crops, causing food shortages nationwide which has put a million and a half of its residents on the brink of starvation

For its part South Sudan's government says that its going into the next round of peace talks determined to bring the conflict to an end. It has reiterated its commitment to the revitalization of the peace process expected to begin in Ethiopia this week. The agenda for the next talks include: the restoration of a permanent ceasefire, full and inclusive implementation of the peace agreement and revising the timetable of implementation of the peace deal so that elections are held at the conclusion of the agreement's timetable.

Taban Deng Gai, the First Vice President wants the country to learn from its mistakes that it made in the past as all the other great nations have done. Regional experts have however warned that the conflict has now engulfed the entire country with many new armed groups emerging.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) an 8 nation bloc in the east African region is brokering the peace process. The bloc has to find a way to include all the groups in the peace process. The bloc also says that the 2015 peace deal may need to be renegotiated. The Juba government, on the other hand, is not ready to renegotiate the peace agreement.

The civil war, which has killed over 50,000 people while displacing 1.6 million, has been going on since December 2013.

Background

A political struggle between president Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar led to the VP being removed from office which ignited violence between presidential guard soldiers in December 2013 and immediately took on an ethnic character. Soldiers from Dinka ethnic group aligned themselves with President Kiir and those from Nuer ethnic group aligned themselves with Riek Machar. These are the two largest ethnic groups in South Sudan. The president accused of attempting a coup and violence quickly spread to other regions of the country.

Both groups have been accused by international groups of crimes against humanity on its citizens. The allegations include: rape and sexual violcence, destruction and looting of property and recruitment of children as soldiers.

A peace deal was signed in August 26, 2015 after several rounds of negotiations and threats of sanctions by the international community and mediated by IGAD. Mr Machar returned to Juba, the capital on April 26, 2016 after two years in exile and was sworn in as vice president. However, violence broke out again between the opposition and government focrces in July 2016 . Mr Machar left the country and the president appointed General Taban Deng Gai as the vice president.

Riek Machar with President Kiir

The United Nations Security Council established a regional protection force, the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), on 8 July 2011 following recommendations by the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Bank Ki-Moon.

UNMISS' objective is to consolidate peace and security, and help establish conditions for development in the Republic of South Sudan, with a view to strengthening the capacity of the Government of South Sudan to govern effectively and democratically and establish good relations with its neighbors.

The mission has come under fire in recent years for not doing enough to protect civilians caught in the conflict. To adequately cope with the crisis, a 2013 Security Council Resolution raised the number of interim troop level to 12,500personnel and the police component to 1,323 personnel, including appropriate formed police units, through temporary transfers from existing peacekeeping operations through inter-mission cooperation, as well as, if needed and subject to further Council consideration, complementary force and asset generation. This is according to the UNMISS website.

UNMISS Peacekeeping soldiers

We here at the Briefing Room call upon the warring factions to agree to a permanent ceasefire and form an inclusive government so that the people of South Sudan can realize their full potential without fear of violence.