South Sudan’s Information Minister Michael Makuei on Friday said the United Nations Security Council’s decision to renew an arms embargo on South Sudan was anti-peace and weakened the government.
“Any arms embargo at the moment is an anti-peace measure,” Makuei told AFP, reported France 24.
He said the arms blockade only benefited militant groups and rebels who had refused to sign a peace deal last September that was aimed at ending a conflict that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.
“There are people who do not want peace in South Sudan,” the minister said. “All this is done in order to weaken the government so that it can be overthrown by the opposition.”
Makuei referred to the rebel group led by former South Sudanese General Thomas Cirillo Swaka. Swaka has been leading the National Salvation Front since 2017, fighting the government army in the country’s south.
Last year, the UN Security Council had imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan, where political violence has caused a massive humanitarian disaster, including deaths, displacement, and widespread food insecurity. The peace deal to end a five-year civil war that killed almost 400,000 people was signed last September.
On Thursday, the council announced the renewal of sanctions for another year. This means the arms embargo, assets freeze and a global travel ban on eight South Sudanese nationals will now stay in place until May 31, 2020.
The resolution was adopted by 10 votes. Resolutions in the 15-member council require a minimum of nine votes to proceed.
Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, and South Africa, the three African countries in the council, refused to support continued sanctions, arguing that the ban would not push the country’s rivals closer to peace. Russia and China also abstained on the vote.
