On Friday 10 August, the EU Council transposed United Nations Security Council Resolution 2428 (2018) of 13 July, which notably imposes an arms embargo and adds two people to the list of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures.
The Council's decision was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 13 August.
The two people sanctioned are Lieutenant General Malek Reuben Riak, the Deputy Chief of General Staff for Logistics and Deputy Chief of Defence Staff and Inspector General of the Army, and General Paul Malong, the former Chief of Staff of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). They had already been sanctioned by the EU autonomously. The EU currently has nine people under EU restrictive measures in view of the situation in South Sudan, eight of whom are listed by the UN.
Similarly, the EU has already had an arms embargo in place on South Sudan since 2011.
Also on 10 August, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service (EEAS) hailed the decisions taken at the extraordinary meeting of the foreign affairs ministers of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on the implementation of the agreement signed in Khartoum on 5 August 2018.
This agreement calls for further negotiations and encourages all involved to ensure that hostilities cease. "The continuing negotiations in Khartoum are an important test for peace in South Sudan. The European Union awaits the completion of this round of negotiation", the EEAS spokesperson said in a press release. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)