South Sudan People's Defense Force Battalion flagged off for a regional peacekeeping operation in 2022 (Photo: Lou Nelson/Eye Radio).

A civil society activist is calling on the South Sudan government to cease protesting the arms embargo imposed on the country and instead develop an action plan on implementing requirements for its lifting.

The United Nations Security Council first imposed the arms embargo in 2018 – a punitive measure intended to mitigate the civil war.

The UN has since renewed the resolution every year, and, in April 2024, it is expected to review the necessity for further extension or lifting.

Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization said addressing the given pre-conditions before the review will ease the process of lifting the ban on the sale of weapons to South Sudan.

“It is time for the President to direct the national cabinet to develop an action plan for addressing the UN preconditions for the lifting of the imposed UN arms embargo on the country,” Yakani said.

“If all the government institutions have actions geared towards addressing the pre-conditions for the lifting of the arms embargo, it is easier, and the lifting can take place in April 2024 during the United Nations Security Council Review.”

The pre-conditions that may pave the way for its lifting are genuine unification of the force, completion of the strategic defense and security review process, timely allocation of finance resources for peace implementation, and a joint action plan for gender-based and sexual violence.

Yakani said the unity government must focus on developing an action plan to implement conditions that will enable its lifting.

He calls on President Salva Kiir to direct the national cabinet to develop an action plan for addressing the UN preconditions for the lifting of the embargo on the country.

On November 18, Information Minister Michael Makuei said the first phase of the Necessary Unified Force has been deployed with sticks because the government is unable to procure weapons due to an arms embargo.

But the United Nations Panel of Experts on South Sudan said in December 2022, that South Sudan’s decision to graduate peace soldiers with sticks is a staged move to protest the arms embargo and not a genuine lack of arms.

SSPDF Spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang later dismissed the UN claims and challenged the Panel to provide proof that the government indeed has arms but refuses to equip the peace soldiers.