On July 13, the UN Security Council approved the US draft resolution, initiated by the US delegation, on introducing an arms embargo against the Republic of South Sudan and personal sanctions with regard to two South Sudanese citizens (a ban on travel and a freeze on assets). The document was passed by the mandatory minimum of nine votes with six abstentions, including the Russian Federation.

While firmly advocating the cessation of the bloody conflict that flared up in South Sudan after it proclaimed independence in 2011, we welcome positive trends in the process of national settlement, which have manifested themselves in recent time thanks to the efforts of a number of African partners and regional organisations. The opposing South Sudanese forces have held important contacts. There is obvious progress on the political track.

It is for this reason we have from the start shared the opinion of the representatives of the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), who said that Washington’s sanctions initiative, one unreservedly supported by its Western Camp allies, was extremely untimely. Moreover, adopted contrary to the African mediators’ opinion, this decision is capable not only of undermining the negotiating process but also of doing considerable damage to the United Nations’ relations with the mediating regional organisations, which runs counter to our Western colleagues’ repeated claims concerning the importance of strengthening the partnership with them.

It is highly gratifying that the majority of African members of the UN Security Council did not succumb to gross pressure and blackmail that was being brought to bear on them and acted in a responsible way in keeping with the African positions, refusing to support the sanctions initiatives promoted by the United States and a number of Western countries.