South Sudan says UN sanctions will not help peace

South Sudan told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that imposing sanctions on warring sides would harden positions and complicate efforts to end nearly a year of fighting.

The United States has said it plans to present a draft resolution setting up a sanctions regime for South Sudan which has been engulfed in violence that has left tens of thousands dead.

South Sudan's ambassador told the 15-member council that frustration with the lack of progress in peace talks was understandable, but that imposing sanctions was not the answer.

"A sustainable solution to the current crisis in South Sudan cannot be achieved by the imposition of sanctions," said Francis Mading Deng.

Sanctions "hardly ever achieve their intended objective," he said. "They only tend to harden positions toward confrontation rather than cooperation."

The latest in a string of ceasefire deals was reached earlier this month between President Salva Kiir and his former vice-president Riek Machar only to be broken just hours later.

Despite the many ceasefire violations, the government in Juba "remains optimistic that an amicable peace agreement is possible and indeed imperative," said the ambassador.

He partly attributed the slow pace of peace talks to frequent adjournments called by regional mediators.

The UN council agreed on Tuesday to renew the mandate of the UN mission in South Sudan for six months and warned it was ready to consider "appropriate measures" to punish those who hamper peace efforts.

The world's youngest nation slid into warfare when a political dispute broke out between Kiir and Machar in December last year, but the violence has expanded with fighting pitting ethnic groups and tribes.

Nearly two million people have fled their homes in the fighting, including 100,000 civilians who have fled to UN bases for shelter.