The UN Security Council has repudiated a US-drafted resolution on arms embargo and sanctions on South Sudan. The world youngest nation is now in its fourth year of war, says Africa Review.
The measure garnered only seven votes in favour in the 15-member council, while eight countries including Russia, China and Japan abstained.
Nine votes and no veto are required for resolutions to be adopted in the council.
The US, backed by Britain and France, had argued that cutting off the arms flow was urgently needed following UN warnings of a risk of mass atrocities.
But Russia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Venezuela and more importantly the three African council members — Angola, Egypt and Senegal — were not swayed and they all abstained.
“This should not have been a contentious resolution,” US Ambassador Samantha Power told the council after the vote.
“History is going to be a very harsh judge of their decision,” said Ms Power, arguing that those who declined to support the measure offered no alternative course to try to end the bloodshed.
The outcome of vote was a setback for the US, which helped South Sudan gain independence in 2011 but has been unable to steer the country away from a war that erupted two years later.
Aside from the arms embargo, the US had sought to put rebel leader Riek Machar, army chief Paul Malong and Information Minister Michael Makuei on a sanctions blacklist, subjecting them to an assets freeze and a global travel ban.
Japan, which has some 350 troops serving in the UN mission in South Sudan, had warned that the measure would have antagonised President Salva Kiir’s government and put peacekeepers’ lives at risk.
Opponents of the sanctions pointed to President Kiir’s call earlier this month for a national dialogue to restore peace, saying that initiative must be given a chance.
The world’s youngest nation, South Sudan descended into war in December 2013, leaving tens of thousands dead and more than 3.1 million people displaced.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")