South Sudan: UN Security Council must impose arms embargo to help end atrocities

As the UN Security Council meets today to review measures aimed at bringing long-overdue peace and stability to South Sudan, Amnesty International is reiterating its longstanding call for the imposition of a comprehensive arms embargo to cut off the supply of weapons being used to kill, maim and destroy the lives of the South Sudanese people.
“The people of South Sudan have suffered gross human rights violations and war crimes for more than four years now and the world has done very little to end them. The UN Security Council must step up and take a leadership role in ending these atrocities by stopping the flow of arms into South Sudan,” said Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
Amnesty International urges the Security Council and the international community, including manufacturers and suppliers of arms, to take decisive steps to end the mass atrocity crimes in South Sudan by drying up its supply of weapons.
“We are asking all nations to show that they stand with civilians in South Sudan and stop selling or allowing arms destined for the country to be trafficked through their territories,” said Seif Magango.