A senior South Sudanese religious leader said on Sunday sanctions would undermine peace and harden the positions of the warring parties to the conflict, even emboldening them.

“The incentives for this war are not the imposition of sanctions because many people don't think the sanctions will speed up the end of the war. Sanctions have been tried elsewhere and we know what they have achieved,” said Episcopal Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul.

“They were tried in Iraq but what happened after, they were imposed. The Iraqi economy was destroyed for 13 years. But did Saddam Hussein go? No. the sanctions emboldened him and his supporters and he actually managed to stay in power. So we should learn from the experience of other countries and come up with our own way and homegrown approaches to address this conflict.”

The religious leader added that imperceptible hands are the profiteers of the economic decline in the country, pointing to a black market economy that he said has grown in territories controlled by both sides.

“Stories these days are told about some people taking advantage of this conflict. Networks of these people has grown that they have become powerful and are getting rich from selling groceries, fuel and food. This is against Christian values and biblical teaching which requires us to stand with the weak and fear God, respect other people, embracing peace, love and respect for diversity,” he said.

He said neigbouring countries and the international community are still providing support to the people but that hasn't stopped the South Sudanese pound from depreciating because of lack of other sources of revenues to boost the economy.