Amnesty International has urged the United Nations Security Council to renew and enforce its arms embargo on South Sudan, citing a clear breach involving the recent deployment of Ugandan troops and military equipment.
The human rights organization pointed to verified footage showing the arrival of Ugandan forces, armored personnel carriers, and tanks in the capital, Juba, on March 17. Amnesty claims this deployment, conducted without notifying the Security Council, violates the terms of the 2018 embargo, which is set to expire on May 31.
The Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) entered South Sudan earlier this year following fighting in Upper Nile State. Uganda’s parliament stated the move was at the request of President Salva Kiir to prevent a worsening security crisis. However, Amnesty maintains the deployment lacks the required UN authorization.
Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty’s regional director for East and Southern Africa, warned against lifting the embargo, noting it has helped curb human rights violations. “The arms embargo is not perfect, but without it, the situation would be much worse,” Chagutah said. “Now is not the time to allow more weapons into the conflict.”
Amnesty also raised concerns over the South Sudanese military’s current use of attack helicopters, which had been reported non-operational in 2020, suggesting embargoed spare parts may have been illicitly acquired. In May, a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders was reportedly attacked by a helicopter gunship, resulting in seven deaths.
The UPDF has not yet responded to the allegations, according to AFP.
South Sudan continues to experience unrest as tensions flare between President Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar, whose long-standing rivalry has led to repeated outbreaks of violence despite the 2018 peace agreement that ended a brutal five-year civil war.
