By Chany Ninrew
The UN Security Council first slapped South Sudan with an arms embargo in 2018 in a move deemed to diminish the war efforts of the former factions, now peace partners.
The embargo has been the subject of condemnation from President Kiir’s government and criticisms from some friends of the South Sudan regime.
Juba argues that it is unable to implement the security arrangements, including graduation and deployment of the Necessary Unified Forces (NUF) to protect civilians, combat subnational violence, and guard against external threats.
South Sudan’s U.N. ambassador Cecilia Adeng said this year that arms embargo and sanctions “impede our progress” and reiterated the country’s call for the measures to be lifted.
“Eliminating the arms embargo “will enable us to build robust security institutions necessary for maintaining peace and protecting our citizens,” she said.
Over the years since the formation of the unity government, the peace parties were at loggerheads over the issue, as opposition groups including the SPLM-IO lobbied for the renewal of the arms embargo and instead maintained that there are already abundant arms in the hands of civilians.
The government fights back against the opposition argument, terming it unpatriotic and contending that the unified forces can not disarm civilians with bare hands.
But with South Sudan’s territorial integrity at stake over Ugandan and Kenyan encroachments, Juba keeps mute and thinks twice – knowing too well it already has enough on its plate to militarily confront mightier neighbours over their armies’ unprovoked aggresions along the porous undemarcated international border.
Over the years, South Sudanese soldiers and civilians have been killed, detained or evicted on several frontiers through actions of the UPDF.
With multiple crisis including economic turbulence, political uncertainty, and flooding plaguing the country, the Ugandan incursions seem like the least of priorities, but it is a glaring threat that must not be shrugged upon.
South Sudan must raise the disputes at the UN Security Council through its ambassador, and implement all requirements for the lifting of arms embargo to enable the country to equip its army.
