[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] on Wednesday urged [press release] South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar [Al Jazeera profile] and President Salva Kiir [official website] to put their issues aside for the well-being of South Sudan in order to create lasting peace. He urged them to make the necessary compromises and create a power-sharing agreement in order to facilitate peace and the conflict, which has already resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. Ban’s statement highlighted the fact that the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to sanction any officials blocking peace efforts. The sanctions are applied to individuals responsible for, complicit in, or engaged directly or indirectly in actions or policies threatening the peace, security or stability of South Sudan. The secretary-general reminded both parties that the best way to avoid sanctions is to comply with the Cessation of Hostilities agreement of 23 January 2014 [text, PDF], comply with international human rights and humanitarian law, cooperate fully with the UN and other humanitarian personal, and help get Sudan back to stability and peace.

The South Sudanese Civil War [JURIST backgrounder] has persisted since December 2013 when Kirr accused his ex-vice-president, Machar, of plotting to overthrow him. In late February UNICEF condemned [JURIST report] the abduction of young boys by an armed group in South Sudan. In early February Human Rights Watch reported that both parties in the conflict are recruiting children [JURIST report], with close to 600 child soldiers being used since the beginning of the conflict. Earlier in February the UN reported continued rights violations [JURIST report] just when the groups were on the brink of signing a peace deal. In January the UN reported attacks [JURIST report] on civilians based on ethnicity and political beliefs in Sudan that amounted to several war crimes. In August, in a briefing before the UN Security Council, Assistant Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet [UN News Centre report] discussed the ongoing humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, describing it as a “man-made crisis” [JURIST report], putting South Sudan on the “brink of a humanitarian catastrophe and a protracted internal conflict.”