The United Nations Security Council has extended the arms embargo and individual sanctions on South Sudan by another year, following concerns that recent violent clashes could trigger a fresh civil war.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, endured a brutal civil war from 2013 to 2018 that resulted in approximately 400,000 deaths and displaced four million people.
A fragile peace was established by a 2018 power-sharing agreement between the opposing factions.
However, violent confrontations have erupted in recent months between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and supporters of his rival, Vice President Riek Machar, who was detained in March.
South Sudan opposed the embargo, and six Security Council members abstained from the vote. The resolution passed with the minimum required nine votes in favour, extending the embargo until 31 May 2026.
The Council’s resolution expressed “concern over the continued intensification of violence” and emphasised the urgent need for both parties to “avoid a relapse into widespread conflict.”
Deputy US Ambassador John Kelley stated the embargo is still essential to prevent “the unfettered flow of weapons into a region awash with guns.”
UN arms embargoes are increasingly contested, especially by African nations often supported by Russia — which, like Juba, called for the sanctions on South Sudan to be lifted.
Deputy Russian Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva, who abstained from the vote, criticised the sanctions for “putting a brake on a successful political process unfolding in South Sudan.”
South Sudanese Ambassador Cecilia Adeng argued that lifting the sanctions and embargo is “not only a matter of national security and sovereignty but also of economic opportunity and dignity.”
She added, “The cost of sanctions is being borne not just by the government but by ordinary citizens.”
