UK says the international community would consider imposing targeted sanctions and a UN arms embargo if South Sudan’s warring parties failed to reach the proposed peace agreement.

In a press release issued by the UK’s Foreign Office ahead of the IGAD Summit on 17 August, UK’s Minister for Africa, Grant Shapps, urged South Sudan’s leaders to sign the peace deal to end suffering of the their people.

Mr Shapps cautioned that the warring parties must not waste this opportunity for peace.

“If this opportunity is not seized by South Sudan’s government and opposition, we would need to consider other options, including the African Union’s earlier call for targeted sanctions and a UN arms embargo,” he said.

South Sudan’s leaders must make the necessary compromises to reach agreement, end the fighting and move their country forward, continued the statement.

According to the UN, the violence has cost the young nation thousands of lives; and almost 2 million people have been displaced since it broke out in December 2013.