South Sudan vows to engage global community over sanctions

September 12, 2015 (JUBA)- South Sudanese government announced on Saturday its intention to engage international community to drop threats of looming sanctions against individuals and avail support to implement the agreement it has signed with the SPLM opposition faction led by former vice-president Riek Machar.

South Sudanese foreign affairs and international cooperation Minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin claimed during an exclusive interview on Saturday that world deliberately decided to ignore the legitimate reasons which the government gives as the cause of the war and calls against sanctions .

“We say the war was a result of the failed coup attempt but the world pays no attention to these important narratives and they decided to impose peace. They have been talking of sanctions which you know will not affect very much the ordinary people. We said no and because the government and particularly President Salva Kiir does not want the people to continue to bear the brunt of a senseless war, he decided to sign the peace,” said Minister Benjamin.

South Sudanese top diplomat made his statement after talks brokered by Russian foreign minister with his Sudanese counterpart in Moscow on the implementation of the cooperation agreement and the improvement of bilateral ties.

During the visit, Benjamin also requested Russia to use its veto if needed to prevent further international sanctions – initiated by the United States which is the penholder of South Sudan’s draft reports – the UN Security Council may consider in the future to impose on his country.

In Juba the minister expressed thanks to the government of Russia for pledging to support in the implementation of the peace agreement and to encourage the international community to prioritize dialogue instead of sanctions.

“Our friends have unfortunately turned their backs against us and are now the one spearheading negative campaigns for sanctions. We have pleaded with them to help us address these differences through peaceful dialogue but they seem to have made up their minds and determined to not listen to us any more,” he said in a first public acknowledgement of the deterioration in bilateral relations with Washington.

However, the minister said his government is determined to remove misunderstandings and work seriously to improve bilateral ties with the U.S. based on mutual interests of the two nations.

“We will not give up. We will continue to dialogue with them because we need them and they need us. Our relationships with countries such as the United States of America and its people are historical. We also have long history of relationship with Russia. We are not just starting,” he said.

(ST)