Security Council extends arms embargo, sanctions on South Sudan

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) NEW YORK, May 30 (KUNA) -- The UN Security Council extended for a year an arms embargo and sanctions on South Sudan Thursday.
A US-drafted resolution was adopted by a vote of 10 in favor with five abstentions. Resolutions in the 15-member council require a minimum of nine votes for adoption.
The measure renews until May 31, 2020 an arms embargo on South Sudan along with an assets freeze and global travel ban slapped on eight South Sudanese nationals for their role in fueling the war.
The United States sharply criticized the three African countries on the council, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast and South Africa, for refusing to support continued sanctions on South Sudan.
US acting Ambassador Jonathan Cohen expressed regret that the African countries had shown "an unwillingness to stop the flow of weapons to one of the continent's deadliest civil conflicts."
The United States scored a diplomatic victory when it persuaded the council last year to back an arms embargo on South Sudan, which has been torn by war since 2013.
Under a Khartoum-mediated peace deal signed in September, President Salva Kiir agreed to set up a unity government with longtime rival Riek Machar, who is to return from exile. (end)
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