UN blacklists South Sudan commanders

On Wednesday, the UNSC punished the six generals - three from either side of South Sudan's conflict - with a global travel ban and an assets freeze.

From the government side, the blacklisted men are Major General Marial Chanuong Yol Mangok, Lieutenant General Gabriel Jok Riak and Major General Santino Deng Wol.

From the rebels, the sanctions target Major General Simon Gatwech Dual, Major General James Koang Chuol and General Peter Gadet.

Britain, France and the United States had proposed the six names to a newly formed committee for targeted sanctions.

The South Sudan sanctions committee was established in March after a string of failed ceasefires.

“As the members of the [UN] Security Council demonstrated today, those who commit atrocities and undermine peace will face consequences,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said in a statement.

Power called on both sides of the conflict to “put aside their self-serving ambitions, end the fighting, and engage in negotiations to establish a transitional government.”

The US envoy further warned against additional sanctions.

South Sudan plunged into chaos in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy and current rebel leader, Riek Machar, around the capital, Juba.

Thousands have been killed and millions displaced. At least seven ceasefires have been agreed but broken ever since. Peace talks are set to resume in mid-July, aimed at putting an end to the 18-month conflict in the world’s youngest country.

In its latest report on Tuesday, the United Nations accused the South Sudanese army of raping and torching girls alive during a recent battle in the flashpoint border state of Unity.

Unity State, also known as Western Upper Nile, is located in the northeast of South Sudan, close to international borders with the Republic of Sudan.

The report said that the UN investigators had collected eyewitness accounts of at least nine separate incidents where “women and girls were burnt in tukuls (huts) after being gang-raped.”

South Sudan gained independence in July 2011 after its people overwhelmingly voted in a referendum for a split from Sudan.

YH/NN/GHN