The UN Security Council has extended the arms embargo on South Sudan for another year, amid fears of renewed civil conflict.
The decision, passed late Friday with the minimum nine votes in favour and six abstentions, prolongs the embargo until May 31, 2026.
The move comes as clashes between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and supporters of Vice President Riek Machar raise alarm.
Machar, who was arrested in March, had previously entered a fragile power-sharing agreement with Kiir following a civil war that ended in 2018.
That war, sparked just two years after South Sudan’s independence in 2011, killed around 400,000 people and displaced millions.
The Council voiced concern over “intensification of violence” and urged both sides to prevent a slide back into widespread conflict.
Deputy US Ambassador John Kelley defended the embargo, calling it vital to halt the unchecked flow of weapons into the unstable region.
However, opposition to the embargo is mounting, particularly from African nations and Russia, which argue it hinders peace progress.
Deputy Russian Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva, who abstained, said the sanctions obstruct South Sudan’s unfolding political developments.
South Sudan’s Ambassador Cecilia Adeng called the embargo a blow to her country’s sovereignty, economy, and the dignity of its people.
“The cost of sanctions is being borne not only by the government, but ordinary citizens,” Adeng told the Council.
As tensions simmer and diplomatic divides widen, the world watches anxiously, hoping the fragile peace does not shatter again.
