EU increases pressure on South Sudan

Decision to impose sanctions on military commanders is the first of many possible steps to end fighting, EU says as it warns of famine within weeks.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on military commanders from both sides of the conflict in South Sudan for “atrocities”, amid warnings that the humanitarian crisis – already recognised by the UN as one of the three most severe in the world – is worsening and could result in famine within months.

The commanders, whose names have not been revealed, will now be barred from entering the EU and any assets that they hold in the EU will now be frozen.

The EU’s senior diplomat for African affairs, Nicholas Westcott, yesterday (10 July) said that the sanctions are a “symbolic step”, but said that “unless there is swifter process for a peace deal and a government that is genuinely accountable, we will take further action”.

The EU has already frozen funding for ordinary projects and programmes in South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in July 2011. As the crisis has worsened, it has, however, progressively had to increase its emergency funding.

Jean-Louis De Brouwer of the European Commission said that the crisis in South Sudan is the second biggest drain on the EU’s emergency-relief department, after the emergency in the neighbouring Central African Republic. The European commissioner for humanitarian aid, Kristalina Georgieva, has previously emphasised that the two crises should be viewed as a regional problem, and the latest figures for refugees underscore the growing impact on South Sudan’s neighbours. Around 160,000 people have fled to Ethiopia, 120,000 to Uganda, 40,000 to Kenya and 19,000 to Sudan. The overall number of South Sudanese who have been uprooted – most of whom remain in the country – has increased by 200,000 over one and a half months, to 1.5 million.

They face “an even bigger crisis in terms of vulnerability” than Syrians, De Brouwer suggested, pointing to the overall level of development in South Sudan.

The onset of the rainy season has further complicated humanitarian efforts in a country where almost all aid needs to be airlifted. Medical concerns have been heightened by an outbreak of cholera that has killed 70 people and infected at least 3,200 people.

The conflict has disrupted farming, with the result, the Commission says, that half of the 3.8 people who need aid are already severely deprived of food. The probability is, De Brouwer said, that famine will be declared in three areas within three weeks.

The EU’s step – following months of warnings of sanctions – is a reflection of concern that the men responsible for the man-made crisis are uninterested in ending it.

The EU has not, however, indicated whether it is prepared to impose sanctions on the two principal protagonists in the conflict: President Salva Kiir and his former vice-president Riek Machar. The fighting began as a power struggle between the two men, but has increasingly taken on an ethnic dimension, leading to warnings from the UN of the potential for genocide.

Over the past eight months, international diplomacy has been led by IGAD, a regional body made up of eight countries in the Horn of Africa. Westcott said that IGAD had “worked very hard” with support from the African Union, the EU, the UN and the US to put a political process in place, “but negotiations are not yet substantively under way and we feel we can no longer simply stand by”.

The United States imposed sanctions on two people in May: Peter Gadet, a commander loyal to Machar, and Marial Chanuong, the head of the presidential guard.

IGAD, the African Union and the United Nations have, however, yet to impose sanctions.

The two sides have agreed four ceasefires, each of which was swiftly broken. On 10 June, IGAD persuaded Kiir and Machar to work on forming a transitional government within 60 days. The government has, however, boycotted the talks.

The EU argues that neither side has met any pledges made to the international community in May to ease the work of aid organisations.

The EU has barred the sale of arms to South Sudan, but reports – corroborated by Westcott – suggest that both sides are building up their stocks of weapons.

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