UN Security Council renews sanctions against South Sudan

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UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution to renew for a year, until May 31, 2027, an arms embargo against South Sudan as well as targeted sanctions of travel ban and asset freeze against individuals and entities.

Resolution 2821, adopted with nine votes in favor and six abstentions, also extends the mandate of the Panel of Experts, which assists the work of the South Sudan Sanctions Committee, until July 1, 2027.

The African members of the Security Council, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and Somalia, abstained, along with China, Pakistan and Russia.

To be adopted, a Security Council draft resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no veto from any of the council's five permanent members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Drafted by the United States, the resolution is a straightforward renewal of the measures without substantive changes to the resolution adopted a year ago.

The resolution reiterates the Security Council's readiness to review arms embargo measures, through modification, suspension, or progressive lifting of these measures, in light of progress achieved on the key benchmarks as set out in Resolution 2577 of 2021, and encourages the South Sudan authorities to achieve further progress in this regard.

It requests the UN secretary-general, in close consultation with the UN Mission in South Sudan and the Panel of Experts, to conduct, no later than April 15, 2027, an assessment of progress achieved on the key benchmarks. The resolution also requests the South Sudanese authorities to report, by the same date, to the Sanctions Committee on the progress achieved in this regard.

The resolution also states the decision to keep the targeted measures under continuous review and expresses the Security Council's readiness to consider adjusting the measures, through modifying, suspending, lifting or strengthening measures to respond to the situation.

The UN sanctions regime against South Sudan, which includes asset freezes, travel bans, and a comprehensive arms embargo, was first established in March 2015