US slaps sanctions on two generals from South Sudan

May 6, 2014 (WASHINGTON) – The US treasury department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on two military officers from both sides of the South Sudan conflict.

US president Barack Obama issued an executive order last month directing his administration to impose sanctions on South Sudanese parties responsible for ongoing violence and human rights abuses in the world youngest nation.

Today’s decision impacts General Peter Gadet and Marial Chanuong Mangok according to OFAC statement.

Gadet is a general leading former vice-president Riek Machar’s forces in Unity state, while Mangok is a major general commanding the presidential guard unit within the South Sudanese army (SPLA).

Mangok and Gadet are now banned from travelling to the US and any assets they have in US financial institutions will be frozen.

The United Nations and the international community condemned recent atrocities allegedly committed against civilians in Bentiu when the rebel fighters led by Gadet recaptured the capital of Unity state.

The presidential guard is accused of killing civilians from Nuer ethnic group in Juba last December.

“The measures taken against Marial Chanuong and Peter Gadet are only a first step and should serve as a clear warning to those in the Government of South Sudan and those who have taken up arms against it: the United States is determined to hold accountable those who choose violence,” US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said in a statement.

Power also said that the US “will also seek in the United Nations Security Council to authorise targeted sanctions against those who continue to undermine South Sudan’s stability”.

(ST)