South Sudan slams U.S extension of national emergency
The South Sudan government has slammed the extension of the national emergency beyond April 2023 by the U.S government.
The White House in it’s recent notice cited widespread violence and atrocities, human rights abuses, recruitment and use of child soldiers, attacks on peacekeepers, and obstruction of humanitarian operations.
Deng Dau Deng, the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said they have not registered any incident of attack on peacekeepers.
“South Sudan has a mechanism called forum which sits monthly with UNMISS, we have not got any report of peacekeepers being attacked by SSPDF, we are shocked to see in the report of United States,” Deng told journalists during press conference held in Juba on Saturday.
Deng said they have in place guidelines that allow SSPDF and UNMISS to cooperate and work together so that they deliver on their mandates.
On sanctions imposed on senior officials and government entities, Deng said the U.S and other western countries have continued to impose unwarranted sanctions which are unhelpful to the ongoing peace implementation process.
The national emergency was declared on April 3, 2014 by President Barack Obama following outbreak of conflict in December 2013.
The national emergency came in the wake of the recent attacks on humanitarian workers in Jonglei and Pibor Administrative Area respectively.
Deng said they have registered significant progress in the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement.
Albino Akol Atak, the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management said South Sudan has not in any way hindered access to humanitarian assistance.
“I believe there is no obstruction, the government of South Sudan is willing actually to help its people, if anybody is coming to help us as the government we welcome it and we do it together so that we deliver services to our people,” Atak said.
Michael Makuei Lueth, the Minister of Information said the sanctions imposed on South Sudan since 2015 are unjustified, adding that they are instead obstructing peace implementation efforts.
“Whatever happens here in South Sudan even individual offences are usually put on the government, reports are written here and sent over there and action is taken on those reports which are not substantiated,” Makuei said.
“If we are to be fair then we should be given our rights, we do not need to blame anybody for a situation which you have not seen, we are a sovereign state and we need to be respected like other states,” he added.
Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have been killed during the skirmishes that erupted in December 2013. In addition, more than 1.5 million people have fled to neighboring countries, while others are internally displaced.
The UN sanctions have been in place since 2015. The UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan in July 2018 in response to hostilities and peace agreement violations between the former rebels and the country’s army.
