The US Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan told a gathering of press and policymakers in Washington on Thursday that “the time has come” for UN Security Council sanctions against South Sudanese leaders.
Donald Booth, the US envoy, said, “the time has come for the broader international community to send the same clear message by authorizing targeted UN Security Council sanctions; a unified signal that this senseless war is unacceptable and that those responsible will pay a price.”
He did not name the South Sudanese politicians whom he claims are obstructing peace efforts. And he stressed that the sanctions are to target individuals only and not the government overall.
The envoy mentioned the 45-day deadline for peace talks to yield a solution, which expires 45 days from 25 August – today. He claimed that with the passage of the deadline, the United States will now consider “acting decisively.”
Booth was speaking in Washington, DC, at the Atlantic Council, a thinktank.
However, the South Sudanese government spokesperson, Michael Makuei, claimed earlier this week that the 45 day deadline cannot be considered to have passed until after the negotiators are given another opportunity to sit together once more, since they did not ask for the current recess.
“We did not demand the recess – it is the mediators who decided, and we went on recess from the 4th. And from the 4th up to our going back, these days will not be counted within the 45 days.”
Related:
US adds names to South Sudan sanctions list (18 Sept.)