UN warns warring factions in S Sudan
July 17, 2014, 1:02 am

The UNSC is troubled by reports of ethnic killings committed by all warring sides in South Sudan [Xinhua]

Although both the US and the EU have slapped sanctions on military leaders the UNSC says it has been alarmed by reports that rival tribes have acquired weapons in violation of an agreement signed in June.

South Sudan Government Defense Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk said that the $14.5 million worth of Chinese armaments delivered to the capital Juba in the past few weeks had actually been contracted in 2012.

But Rwandan Deputy UN Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe, UNSC president for the month of July, said the council “stands ready to consider appropriate measures in consultation with countries of the region against those who will not implement the commitment to peace in South Sudan.”

Hostilities erupted late last year when former Vice-President Riek Machar of the Nuer tribe was accused by President Salva Kiir – a member of the Dinka tribe – of orchestrating a coup.

The violence escalated when other supporters of the two men, from rival tribes, clashed in the capital Juba, which has since been stabilised by the South Sudan Army loyal to Kiir.

By February, fighting had spread to over 30 towns throughout South Sudan, and in late April, UN officials reported that radio stations were used to broadcast messages inciting ethnically-charged violence that led to the killing of hundreds in the city of Bentiu, capital of Unity State.

UN spokesperson Joseph Contreras told the media that members of the Nuer tribe, which largely runs the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, overran Bentiu on April 18 and then proceeded to a mosque and hospital, where they robbed and killed people seeking sanctuary.

US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Juba on May 6 and warned of an impending genocide unless peacekeeping troops were deployed.

On Wednesday, US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power urged the UNSC to consider targeted sanctions against leaders from both sides who are believed to be prolonging the conflict.

Meanwhile, the UN issued on Wednesday an urgent appeal to fund assistance and humanitarian aid to some 6.9 million in dire need in South Sudan and Darfur.

“The Sudan humanitarian response plan has been revised to reflect the deteriorating situation in Darfur, the influx of new refugees from South Sudan, and Sudan’s acute malnutrition crisis,” Ali Al-Zaatari, the UN’s Sudan humanitarian coordinator,” said in the statement.

Source: Agencies