Edward Royce, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives, has called for a “comprehensive arms embargo on South Sudan.”
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the US Congress, the legislative body of the national government in the United States. It is presently controlled by the Republican Party, the party of former president George W. Bush.
The House’s foreign affairs committee sent a letter on Monday to President Barack Obama’s representative to the United Nations, urging her to bring a resolution to vote in the UN Security Council.
“The United Nations Security Council must expeditiously impose stringent sanctions against senior members from the government and opposition in South Sudan to send a clear message that the international community will not tolerate violations of the cessation of hostilities and the derailing of the May 9th agreement,” he said.
Royce added, “Additionally, the Security Council should impose a comprehensive arms embargo on South Sudan. Weapons that enter the country only increase the likelihood of atrocities against civilians.”
The Congressman said this measure was necessary because “each party has placed its personal interests and gains over the life-saving needs of those in South Sudan.”