Brussels, 13/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament strongly condemns the resumption of violence in South Sudan, which has claimed over 10,000 lives, left 1.4 million people displaced and resulted in 3.8 million people in humanitarian distress. In addition to the immediate ceasefire that it calls for in a resolution adopted in Brussels on Thursday 13 November, the Parliament calls on the international community to impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for the repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement (signed on 23 January 2014), and it notes with regret the ineffectiveness of the European sanctions.
The resolution calls for credible and transparent inquiries to be conducted by the African Union Commission of Inquiry into all the serious allegations of crime committed by any party to the conflict - be it supporters of President Salva Kiir or his sacked Vice-President Riek Machar.
The Parliament condemns the “ineffectiveness of the targeted sanctions imposed by the European Union” and calls for targeted sanctions to be imposed by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the African Union and the international community.
MEPs want the EU to re-programme its development aid to meet the most urgent needs of the people of South Sudan. They welcome the suspension of development cooperation in the form of direct budgetary support to the government, and welcome the fact that direct aid to the people and to the democratic transition and humanitarian aid continues. The European Union has supplied over a third (38%) of the international humanitarian aid, and the Commission alone has contributed over €130 million of its budget to deal with this crisis in 2014, the Parliament states. (AN)