John Akoon
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Amb. Geng Shuang, China’s Deputy UN Representative. [Photo: CGTN]
China urged the UN Security Council penholder members to refrain from using their positions as a tool for imposing pressure and undermining regional demands.
This is after the UN Security Council voted on Thursday to prolong an arms embargo on South Sudan, despite requests from the African Union and countries such as Russia and China, to lift or soften the restrictive measures.
The resolution, which was made after the abstention of China and other regional countries, also extended the travel bans and asset freezes on South Sudanese on the UN sanctions blacklists until May 31, 2025.
However, China’s Deputy UN Representative, Geng Shuang, argued in his explanatory statement that South Sudan was making good progress toward implementing the sanction benchmarks.
“The lifting of sanctions has always been the aspiration of the government of the people of South Sudan,” he said.
“The Security Council should progressively ease the arms embargo on South Sudan in light of the actual situation,” Shuang noted, faulting penholder members in the UN Security Council for ignoring the demand of the regional countries that echoed the same sentiment of lifting sanctions.
“In recent years, the penholders have insisted on maintaining the sanctions against South Sudan despite the strong demands of the country in question, despite the reasonable views of the regional countries, and the collective voices of the African Union, IGAD, EAC, and other regional organizations,” he noted in an explanation statement.
According to Shuang, during the consultation process, several council members asked that the arms embargo on the South Sudanese government be lifted first, and the penholders refused to be flexible on essential matters when members expressed concerns.
“They put the draft straight to vote when there are still major differences among members. Such a practice undermines the efforts of member states to seek consensus. It jeopardizes the unity and cooperation of the Security Council,” Shuang noted, stressing that such practices will undermine the Security Council’s authority.
He added: “In the past two decades, the sanctions regime of the Council has shown a pattern of expansion.”
“The reasonable demands of many African countries calling strongly for the easing or lifting of the sanctions have been ignored. China has always advocated for a prudent and responsible way to handle the sanctions at the Council,” he noted
“We hope that the Council will heed the strong call of African countries, take into account the legitimate concerns, and properly adjust and lift sanctions that are not compatible with the situation on the ground,” he added.
The Chinese diplomat explained that having a different point of view as a council member is normal, and that it is the penholders’ responsibility to encourage unity and cooperation to mend the differences.
“The penholder should effectively take up this responsibility, accommodate the concerns of the country in question, give equal attention to the view of all Council members, and respect the recommendation of regional organizations and countries,” he noted.
“Avoid placing country-specific positions above collective positions, and avoid making penholder ship as a privilege and as a tool for exerting pressure,” Shuang added.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
For More News And Analysis About South-Sudan Follow Africa-Press
