S Sudan Seeks to Impose Sanctions on Sudan: UN

South Sudan has called on the United Nations to impose sanctions against Sudan for what it refers to as “continued aerial and ground attacks” on its territory.

“It is … incumbent on the (United Nations Security) Council to now condemn the republic of Sudan’s actions in the strongest terms possible, demand a cessation of violence and … impose additional sanctions,” Juba said in a statement issued on Friday.

On May 2, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution, calling on both sides to cease all hostilities and withdraw their forces from the disputed oil-rich border region of Abyei and resume negotiations by May 16. According to the resolution, if either side fails to abide by the terms, “additional measures” under Article 41 of the UN Charter, which obligates non-military sanctions, will be taken. 

On Thursday, Juba filed a complaint with the UN, claiming that Khartoum attacked Unity State, Upper Nile, Jonglei and the oil-rich western and northern Bahr el Ghazal regions, after the deadline. 

On Tuesday, the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) confirmed that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), who had seized Abyei in May 2011, completely withdrew from the region late in the evening, according to AFP.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sudanese officials began meeting with their South Sudanese counterparts in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to settle their disputes over the border region. 

In April, fighting between the two sides escalated over oil fields in the border town of Heglig. 

Both sides have accused one another of inciting violence, cross-border incursions and airstrikes. 

Abyei, which gained independence in 2011 after a long civil war, is claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan. The two sides could not decide on its administrative control in a peace deal in 2005, and a referendum on Abyei’s future status has been postponed indefinitely.