UN: South Sudan rival leaders qualify for sanctions

Juba – South Sudan’s president and a rebel leader both merit sanctions because their troops have targeted civilians and broken international law, a UN panel of experts says in a new report obtained by The Associated Press.
The report also calls for an arms embargo on the oil-rich but economically devastated country where the UN says tens of thousands have been killed since fighting broke out in December 2013.
The panel of experts found that despite a peace deal signed by President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar in August, human rights violations, including torture, sexual violence, extrajudicial killings and the recruitment of child soldiers, have continued “unabated and with full impunity”.
“There is clear and convincing evidence that the majority of acts of violence committed in the course of the war, has been directed by or undertaken with the knowledge of senior individuals at the highest levels of government and within the opposition,” the report says.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged the African Union to address South Sudan’s failure last week to meet a deadline to establish a transitional government of national unity, a key step in implementing the peace deal.