President Kiir meet South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. (Office of the President)

President Kiir told his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa that the arms embargo imposed on South Sudan is hindering the implementation of the security arrangement.

On Saturday, Kiir returned from a three-day visit to Pretoria where he met Ramaphosa on ways to strengthen mutual ties as well as regional efforts to restore peace in Sudan.

Presidential Affairs Minister, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the two leaders agreed to join hands to strengthen relations in various sectors.

Dr. Marial told the media President Kiir shared with President Ramaphosa the implications of the longstanding arms embargo on South Sudan.

Kiir reportedly urged his counterpart to encourage the United States, which is the pen holder on South Sudan, to abolish the sanctions regimes on his country.

“President Kiir briefed President Ramaphosa about the implementation of the peace agreement saying that the peace agreement implementation is going as scheduled, although in certain areas,” Marial said on SSBC.

“But the implementation in general is good in the sense that there is peace in the country.”

“The second item is the security arrangement. Some of the troops already graduated; about 53,000 troops but the difficulties are the issue of the arms embargo and targeted sanctions by the security council on South Sudan.”

The UN Security Council, on May 30, 2023, extended for one year the sanctions regime imposed on South Sudan, including an arms embargo, assets freeze, and travel bans despite protests from Juba.

The South Sudan sanctions regime were first imposed in 2018 during the South Sudanese civil war in what the UN believes was a measure to control the flow of weapons into the country and protect civilians.

South Africa is not among the current members of the UN Security Council.