Monday, July 18, 2016
By ADOW MOHAMED
Vice President Riek Machar (L) and President Salva Kiir (R) / AP Photo/P. Muller
The Inter-governmental Authority on Development wants hefty sanctions imposed on top South Sudanese government officials behind the latest bloody conflict. A joint communique adopted by all member states on Saturday evening called for asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo sanctions against perpetrators of the violence in Juba.
The communique did not, however, mention targeted individuals. But sources at the Foreign Affairs ministry told the Star President Salva Kiir, Vice President Riek Machar and ministers face sanctions. More than 300 people have been killed and 40,000 forced to flee their homes following fresh fighting in South Sudan.
The Igad head of states and governments who met during an extraordinary summit in Kigali, Rwanda, at the weekend want the United Nations Mission in South Sudan reinforced and its mandate extended.
Present were President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn, who is the Igad chairman, Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia and South Sudan Foreign Affairs minister Deng Alor.
On Saturday, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon called for an arms embargo and sanctions against government officials. “The people of South Sudan need to hear the region and the world speak with one voice to end this mindless violence,” he said. “The renewed fighting is outrageous. It is yet another grievous setback. It deepens the country’s suffering. It makes a mockery of commitments to peace.”
Amnesty International has said government forces are deliberately blocking people from fleeing the conflict. It said it has received reports from two charter companies that National Security Service officers have ordered them not to carry South Sudanese, particularly men.