UNITED NATIONS, December 16 (Sputnik) – One year after a conflict broke out in South Sudan, members of the UN Security Council have adopted a Presidential Statement demanding a cessation of violence and threatening to impose sanctions if the crisis in the country is not resolved.
The Security Council's Monday statement "urgently demands that President Salva Kiir Mayardit, former Vice President Riek Machar Teny and all parties refrain from further violence, implement the Agreement to Resolve the Crisis in South Sudan signed on May 9, 2014, [and] uphold their commitment to establish a Transitional Government of National Unity".
The council also reiterated its intention to start considering "all appropriate measures, including targeted sanctions" against those "impeding the peace process" in South Sudan.
According to the UN Security Council, there have been serious human rights abuses in South Sudan and those responsible for violating international humanitarian law in the country should be held accountable.
Violence erupted in South Sudan in December, 2013, when the country's president, Salva Kiir, accused his ex-deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup. Thousands of people have been killed in the ongoing civil war in the country.
