South Sudan soldiers carry heavy weapons | Credit | Getty/AFP

The government has dismissed reports that it procured arms and ammunition recently.

In November 2018, a report by London-based Conflict Armament Research suggested that the Ugandan government on behalf of South Sudan purchased arms and ammunition from at least three EU members, namely Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia.

The weapons were then sent to South Sudan’s military and armed allies in the Sudan.

The 101-page report documents how hundreds of weapons and more than 200,000 rounds of ammunition used in the conflict made their way to South Sudan.

This report and several others released in the recent past show that the weapons are used to fuel conflict and terrorize civilians.

As a result, the United Nations Security Council on 31 May extended the arms embargo on South Sudan and targeted sanctions on individual leaders.

But Michael Makuei argues that the government of South Sudan stopped procuring arms since the signing of the peace agreement in 2015.

“Whatever arms that we acquired, this are arms which were procured earlier before we could even go into the war.”

Makuei said that the arms which were procured before the war from China are yet to arrive the country.

“We agreed with China to keep them until that time when we are in position to establish peace, there after we can get this arms to protect ourselves from internal or external enemies.”