South Sudan activist backs renewed U.N. sanctions, urges political transition

JUBA – South Sudanese civil society activist Edmund Yakani welcomed the United Nations Security Council’s decision to renew sanctions on South Sudan, saying the measures would remain necessary until the country’s leaders demonstrate genuine commitment to peace and democratic transition.

The comments came two days after the Security Council renewed sanctions on South Sudan for another year, including an arms embargo, travel bans and asset freezes, citing a lack of progress in implementing the country’s 2018 peace agreement.

The U.N. resolution, drafted by the United States, was adopted on Friday with nine votes in favour and six abstentions. The Security Council also extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts that monitors compliance with the sanctions regime.

Speaking after the vote, U.S. Deputy Representative for Special Political Affairs Ambassador Jennifer Locetta blamed President Salva Kiir and other South Sudanese leaders for failing to advance the peace process and address worsening political and security conditions.

Yakani, who heads the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), said the sanctions were a consequence of years of political and military failures by South Sudan’s leaders.

“It is deadly and destructive politics and military engagement of our conflicting leaders since 2013 that attracts the renewed U.N. Security Council sanctions on South Sudan,” Yakani said in a statement extended to Sudans Post on Saturday.

He argued that the sanctions would become irrelevant if political leaders demonstrated a commitment to implementing the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).

Yakani called for the release of political detainees, including First Vice President Riek Machar and members of his Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), as well as former Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel and former National Security Service Director-General Akol Koor Kuc, among others detained across the country.

He also urged the government to initiate an inclusive political dialogue without preconditions and accelerate preparations for peaceful and credible elections.

“If our leaders exercise their primary responsibility for making genuine and timely transition from violence to peace, the U.N. sanctions will be meaningless and will automatically be dropped,” Yakani said.

South Sudan has faced renewed political tensions in recent months amid arrests of opposition figures, delays in implementing key provisions of the peace agreement and growing international concern over the country’s transition process.

Yakani said continued restrictions on civic and political freedoms risked strengthening the case for maintaining international pressure. He cited what he described as threats against political activists, arrests of government critics and the detention of family members of critics living abroad.

He urged President Kiir to convene an urgent meeting of government leaders to assess obstacles to the peace process and respond to mounting international pressure for political reforms.

“The only possible option for winning the dropping of the U.N. sanctions is for the leadership of the country to exercise their primary responsibility for making peace happen through genuine and timely political transition,” he said.

The U.N. sanctions regime on South Sudan was first established in 2015 and has been renewed annually amid concerns over persistent instability, human rights abuses and delays in implementing the country’s peace agreements.