What next after individuels sanctions in South Sudan?
By Peter Gai Manyuon
April 9, 2014 – What is clicking mostly in people minds among South Sudanese is who is going to be number one in the list of the criminals who will be given sanction by United States of America (USA) in this scenario where there is rebellion in three states of the Republic of South Sudan and thousands are still taking shelter in United Nation Mission in South Sudan (UNIMISS) compounds.
Some people are coming out with predictions that are believable and other are unbelievable in a sense.
It might be good news to South Sudanese globally about the America decision to give sanctions to individuals who have killed innocent civilians, raped, tortured, roped other people properties and forced other people to eat human flesh in Juba last year December 2013.
And on other hand sanctions justify that South Sudanese have failed to rule themselves in that sense simply, because if South Sudanese are capable they should not have been given individuals sanctions at this particular period of time.
Well, based on my own psychological black board, curative thinking and the way I have visualized the ongoing order of giving sanctions by President Barrack Obama, it reminds me of what had happened in Libya in 2011 20th October where Muammar Gaddafi died miserably . The question is; will it happen in South Sudan? And if yes, why don’t we think twice of the solution about the crisis before it is going to be too late? ( Food for thoughts).
However Sanctions, in law and legal definition, are penalties or other means of enforcement used to provide incentives for obedience with the law, or with rules and regulations.
For the case of the Republic of South Sudan where criminality is the order of the day Criminal sanctions can take the form of serious punishment, such as corporal or capital punishment, incarceration, or severe fines. Within the civil law context, sanctions are usually monetary fines, levied against a party to a lawsuit or his/her attorney, for violating rules of procedure, or for abusing the judicial processes.
Sanctions on individuals
The United Nations Security Council can implement sanctions on political leaders or economic individuals. These persons usually find ways of evading their sanction because of political connections within their nation like the case of the Republic of South Sudan.
Reasons for sanctioning globally, highlights
Sanctions formulations are designed into three categories. The categories are used to differentiate between the political contexts due to the global nature of the act. First, Sanctions are designed to force cooperation with international Law. This can be seen in the sanctions placed on Iraq in Resolution No. 661 on August 6, 1990 after the initial invasion of neighboring Kuwait. The United Nations placed an Embargo on the nation in an attempt to prevent armed conflict. Resolution 665 and Resolution 670 were further added creating both naval and air blockade on Iraq.
The purpose of the initial sanctions was to coerce Iraq into following international law, which included the recognized sovereignty of Kuwait. The second category of design is those sanctions with the purpose to contain a threat to peace within a geographical boundary like what is happening in South Sudan where many lost their lives and other raped, tortured.
Moreover, the 2010 Iran nuclear proliferation debate is a contemporary example. The current United Nations Security Council passed on June 9; Resolution 1929 providing restrictions on missile and weaponry materials that could be used for the creation of destructive weapons. This principle of restriction is to contain the possibility of Iranian aggression with in the neighboring region.
The third category involves the United Nations Security Councils condemnation of actions of a specific action or policy of a member/non-member nation. The white minorities declared a declaration of Rhodesian Independence on November 11, 1965.The General assemble and United Nations in a 107 to 2 vote took to condemning Rhodesia on all military economic as well as oil and petroleum products. The international display of disapproval forced sanctions onto the Rhodesian people but without a clear goal as to a remedy for the economic sanctions. The three categories are a blanket explanation on the reasons sanctions are applied to nations but it does not go as far to say that voting members share the same political reasons. It is often the case for many nations to apply self-interests with one or more of the categories when voting whether or not to implement sanctions.
Importance of sanctions
According to my own analysis; Sanctions will acts as alert to Juba government and the rebels to have no access to their private accounts that they might use to buy heavy weapons in other countries and to restrict movement of some individuals who are to lobby for the support as well. Sanctions not only bring moral pressure to bear upon offenders, but also affect their materiel and other interests. They seem to be the principal mean to cultivate law-abiding citizens.
Disadvantages of sanctions
Some individuals will lost credibility and trust from International Communities and regional bodies as well and therefore other will end up like Col Gaddafi of Libya who was over thrown by NATO using military tactics and cases. And it might not be far for the Republic of South Sudan to experience the same like what happened in other African Countries where Central African Republic (CAR) is part.
Moreover, Juba seem to be very annoyed with the current order by the first black President Barrack Obama and the rebel seems like they are okay with the executive order from United States of America (USA) because they never reacted like what the Minister of Information and Broadcasting of South Sudan did after sanctions were ordered for approval. For those who have followed International politics globally and how the world is being governance in this twenty first century, you will find that, all people are in the mess accept God the almighty alone.
God help my people from this crisis!!!
Author is Independent Journalist and Columnist who had written extensively on the issues of Democratization and Human Rights in South Sudan; you can contact him through [email protected]