South Sudanese government forces have acquired two fighter jets and truckloads of small arms ammunition, and are now seeking to manufacture bullets, while opposition troops have not received any significant arms shipment, UN sanctions monitors have revealed.
Reuters news agency reports the sanctions monitors to say in a confidential report that armed government actors were imposing “debilitating movement restrictions” on U.N. peacekeepers and warned that the economy of the world’s newest nation has effectively collapsed due to government policies that include buying weapons instead of funding social services.
The report now strengthens the case for an arms embargo, a move recommended by the monitors to the Security Council in January.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also called for an arms embargo on the conflict riddled nation.
