Following up on threats made Monday, the US has imposed the first sanctions against South Sudan, where the president has not come to the table to discuss peace with the rebels after over four months of fighting has disrupted the nation and displaced over a million South Sudanese.
On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry threatened sanctions against the country’s government if they continued to evade peace talks, and on Tuesday Kerry announced travel bans and asset freezes against two participants in the ongoing conflict. The sanstions come under an executive order signed by President Barack Obama last month.
The sanctions were imposed on one individual from each side of the conflict. From the government side, a member of the presidential guard, Marial Chunuong, was singled out by the US for leading attacks against civilians in and around the capital, Juba, and from the rebel side leader Peter Gadet was targeted for leading an April 17 assault on the city of Bentiu in which 200 civilians were killed.
An unidentified Obama administration official commented on the sanctions, saying, “The primary purpose is to isolate and apply pressure to change the decision-making calculus of the key actors involved.”
The leaders of the two main groups at conflict, President Salva Kiir and the rebel leader, former vice president, Riek Machar, agreed Tuesday to requests by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to hold the first face-to-face talks this Friday in Ethiopia.
By Day Blakely Donaldson
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