South Sudan ambassador to the UN, Cecilia Adeng
South Sudan government reaffirmed its commitment to fully implement preconditions set for lifting the sanctions regime and arms embargo that the UN imposed on the country.
On Thursday, the Security Council extended for one year the sanctions regime including asset freezes, travel bans and the arms embargo on May 30, 2024, having set five benchmarks to enable its review and potential modification.
The preconditions include redeployment and resource allocation to the necessary unified forces, progress on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration that also requires allocation of resources.
Other benchmarks are management of the existing arms and ammunition stockpile, completion of the strategic defense and security review process, and establishment of a joint action plan against Sexual Gender-Based Violence (S-GBV).
Addressing the Council on Thursday, South Sudan Ambassador to the UN, Cecilia Adeng, told the Council her country is on course to iron out preconditions for lifting the embargo.
She added that sanctions impeded peace progress and reiterated Juba’s call for the measures to be lifted.
“The assessment report transmitted by the secretary-general acknowledges our progress and identifies areas needing further improvements,” she said.
“We are committed to enhancing our efforts by completing this strategic Defense and Security review establishment in implementing the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process and managing arms and ammunition stockpiles effectively.”
“We submitted our report to the South Sudan sanction committee outlining our progress on the benchmarks demonstrating transparency and accountability in our endeavors.”
Ambassador Adeng said sanctions impede peace progress and reiterated Juba’s call for the measures to be lifted to enable the country to build robust security institutions necessary for maintaining peace and protecting the citizens.
She further told the Council that South Sudan is committed to ensuring the upcoming elections are conducted peacefully, “with full participation of all stakeholders.”
The sanctions regime, first imposed in July 2018, has since been extended annually in consideration of reports of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the situation in South Sudan.
The resolution was adopted despite appeals from, 6 countries including Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russian Federation and Sierra Leone abstaining from the vote.
Nine members of the Security Council namely Ecuador, France, Japan, Malta, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States voted in favor of it.
The Council strongly urged all member states to identify and prevent arms shipments to South Sudan from preventing another civil war in the country.
It reiterated its call on South Sudan neighboring to inspect all cargos heading to South Sudan through their territory Probability that these cargos contain items the supply, sale or transfer of which is prohibited by the arms embargo.
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