US ‘open to lifting’ South Sudan arms embargo

The US is willing to consider lifting an arms embargo and targeted sanctions against Sudan Sudan if a number of conditions are met, its outgoing ambassador Thomas Hushek has said.

The conditions include a “reduction in level of violence and corruption” in the system.

The UN Security Council renewed the arms embargo in May for a period of one year to stop the flow of weapons to armed groups.

The US government also imposed its own sanctions against some South Sudanese senior government officials, including former first Vice-President Taban Deng Gai.

“This year when we adopted a resolution at the UN Security Council, we put new language in the resolution that talks about establishing benchmarks, establishing peace-building that will eventually lead to the lifting of arms embargo,” Ambassador Hushek told the BBC in the capital, Juba.

“So there is a plan that will be developed about how to remove that particular state of sanctions.

“We offered a plan to remove those sanctions, this involved [the government] taking steps on financial transparency reforms and we will discuss that plan with government officials here.”

BBC.COM