The UN Security Council on Thursday adopted a resolution to renew for a year, till May 31, 2023, an arms embargo against South Sudan.
Resolution 2633 also renews targeted sanctions of travel ban and asset freeze against individuals and entities and extends the mandate of the Panel of Experts, which assists the work of the South Sudan Sanctions Committee, till July 1, 2023.
South Sudan has repeatedly called for the arms embargo to be lifted. However, earlier this month, the U.N. panel of experts monitoring sanctions against South Sudan recommended that the Security Council extend the arms embargo due to “persistent cease-fire violations” and intensifying violence in the country’s regions.
The experts said the South Sudan government’s purchase of approximately 25 new armored personnel carriers for the police, shown in a March photograph, was a violation of the U.N. arms embargo yet the civilians’ conditions worsened due to violence, floods, displacement, and food insecurity.
The resolution was approved by 10 out of the 15 council members, late on Thursday.
Meanwhile, China, Russia, India, Gabon, and Kenya abstained from voting on the US-drafted resolution.
The resolution states that the arms embargo shall not apply to the supply, sale, or transfer of non-lethal military equipment, solely in support of the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement.
In the resolution, UNSC reiterated its readiness to review arms embargo measures if key benchmarks have been achieved.