President Salva Kiir and the then-US Vice President Joe Biden in Nairobi, Kenya in September 2010. Credit|Associated Press

The White House has announced it extended the national emergency on South Sudan beyond April 3, 2022.

The national emergency deals with what the US government describes as an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

President Joe Biden says the current situation in the country is still marked by activities that threaten the peace, security, or stability of South Sudan and the surrounding region.

He affirmed that this situation includes widespread violence and atrocities, human rights abuses, recruitment and use of child soldiers, attacks on peacekeepers, and obstruction of humanitarian operations.

“The situation in and in relation to South Sudan, which has been marked by activities that threaten the peace, security, or stability of South Sudan and the surrounding region, including widespread violence and atrocities, human rights abuses, recruitment and use of child soldiers, attacks on peacekeepers, and obstruction of humanitarian operations, continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” said Joe Bide said in a statement to the US congress.

Due to these reason, Biden said he has determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 1-3-6-6-4 with respect to South Sudan.

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act authorizes President Biden to regulate international commerce in response to any unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States.

It was first declared by former President Barrack Obama in 2014, a few months after war erupted in Juba in December 2013.

The order meant that the transfer of assets, in the form of property or interests would be blocked for some individuals whose actions are considered to threaten peace in South Sudan.

It also affects those who threaten transitional agreements, expand the conflict, and commit human rights violations, and target women and children.

The order was extended several times during the war that ended in 2018.

In April 2020, former U.S President Donald Trump said the national emergency on South Sudan would continue for the next year.

This, he said, is because the situation still threatens the peace, security, or stability of South Sudan and its region.

He directed that the notice be published in the U.S Federal Register and transmitted to Congress.