Exclusive: U.S. to sanction both sides of South Sudan conflict in days - sources

Source: Reuters

Amid warnings that ethnic violence in South Sudan risks spiraling into genocide, the United States expects to impose sanctions on individuals on both sides of the conflict in the coming days, U.S. and other diplomatic sources said on Monday.

The sources, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said that the sanctions would involve a ban on travel to the United States and the freezing of any assets under U.S. authority. People on both the rebel and government sides will be targeted, the sources added, without disclosing names.

"In the coming days," a U.S. official said about the expected timing of the move. The other sources confirmed that the United States had already made a decision to sanction several individuals and it was now a question of timing.

The fact that Washington is preparing U.S. sanctions against a country the United States helped create and has supported with large amounts of aid shows how frustrated President Barack Obama's administration has become with South Sudan's leaders.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/05/us-southsudan-unrest-sanctions-idUSBREA440UX20140505