Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United Nations Security Council should immediately impose an arms embargo against the Government of South Sudan and all other parties to hostilities in South Sudan.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 467 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 467

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
  Nations Security Council should immediately impose an arms embargo 
    against the Government of South Sudan and all other parties to 
                      hostilities in South Sudan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 20, 2017

  Mr. Thomas J. Rooney of Florida submitted the following resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
  Nations Security Council should immediately impose an arms embargo 
    against the Government of South Sudan and all other parties to 
                      hostilities in South Sudan.

Whereas the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed on January 9, 2005, provided 
        the framework for a referendum to determine the status of southern Sudan 
        in 2011, in which approximately 99 percent of voters chose independence 
        from Sudan;
Whereas since the onset of the civil war in the Republic of South Sudan, in 
        December 2013, more than 50,000 South Sudanese citizens have been killed 
        and 1,930,000 have been internally displaced, including roughly 230,000 
        who have sought refuge at civilian protection sites established by the 
        United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS);
Whereas, in addition, 82 aid workers have been killed and more than 1,800,000 
        refugees from South Sudan have fled to neighboring countries to seek 
        asylum;
Whereas throughout the course of the civil war, both government and opposition 
        forces have been implicated in the recruitment of more than 17,000 child 
        soldiers, and have been found culpable in other egregious human rights 
        violations, including ethnically targeted rape and killing;
Whereas, on February 20, 2017, famine was officially declared in parts of South 
        Sudan and the United States Agency for International Development 
        estimates that by the peak lean season in July 2017, approximately 
        5,500,000 people--nearly half the population--will be in Crisis (IPC 3) 
        or higher levels of acute food insecurity;
Whereas despite the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic 
        of South Sudan signed on August 17, 2015, which came into effect on 
        August 26, 2015, violent clashes employing tanks, helicopter gunships, 
        and heavy weaponry have continued throughout the country that routinely 
        and indiscriminately affect civilian neighborhoods and United Nations 
        compounds;
Whereas despite the Government of South Sudan, including President Salva Kiir, 
        having made several public commitments in recent months to allow 
        unhindered humanitarian assistance, including in a joint communique with 
        the United Nations Security Council in September 2016, the aid response 
        continues to be obstructed, mainly by the government's armed forces, the 
        Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA);
Whereas in February 2016, SPLA troops attacked a civilian protection site 
        established by UNMISS in Malakal, killing up to 65 people, injuring over 
        100, and displacing roughly 30,000, and the forces also burned down 
        3,700 shelters across one-third of the site;
Whereas in July 2016, violence initiated by the SPLA and forces from the Sudan 
        People's Liberation Army--In Opposition (SPLA-IO) in Juba involved an 
        attack in which SPLA forces fired over 50 rounds at an armored United 
        States Embassy vehicle, an attack on the Terrain Hotel compound in which 
        SPLA soldiers beat and raped foreign aid workers, reportedly targeting 
        Americans, and other attacks on United Nations compounds and UNMISS 
        civilian protection sites;
Whereas the violence resulted in the deaths of 300 people, including two United 
        Nations peacekeepers and two employees of Doctors Without Borders; and
Whereas the final report of the United Nations Panel of Experts on South Sudan 
        which was extended pursuant to United Nations Security Council 
        Resolution 2290 (2016) found that--

    (1) while the SPLA, the SPLA-IO, and other armed groups undertook 
military operations, including targeting of civilians, throughout 2016 and 
the first quarter of 2017, by far the largest-scale campaigns have been 
planned and executed by the SPLA under the leadership of President Kiir;

    (2) these SPLA campaigns--in Upper Nile, Unity, Western Bahr el Ghazal, 
and Jonglei states as well as in Greater Equatoria--have followed a 
consistent tactical pattern since the major government offensives in 2015 
and have been supported by heavy weapons such as Mi24 attack helicopters, 
L-39 jets, and amphibious vehicles that the government has procured since 
the beginning of the war;

    (3) despite the scale and scope of the political, humanitarian, and 
economic crises, the United Nations Panel of Experts on South Sudan 
continues to uncover evidence of the ongoing procurement of weapons by the 
SPLA, the National Security Service (NSS), and other associated forces and 
militias; and

    (4) the SPLA therefore remains the main belligerent in the war and 
continues to prioritize an aggressive military approach over a political 
solution to the conflict: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the United Nations Security Council should immediately 
        impose an arms embargo against the Government of South Sudan to 
        prevent the continued acquisition of arms and military 
        equipment by both parties and the proliferation of weapons 
        throughout the country, and to hold the Government of South 
        Sudan accountable for--
                    (A) obstructing or constraining the operations of 
                the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South 
                Sudan (UNMISS), including by restricting the 
                transportation of wounded United Nations peacekeepers;
                    (B) committing other repeated violations of the 
                status of forces agreement with the United Nations 
                signed on August 8, 2011;
                    (C) inhibiting the free movement of members of the 
                Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements 
                Monitoring Mechanism established by the Agreement on 
                the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South 
                Sudan signed on August 17, 2015, which came into effect 
                on August 26, 2015, who are tasked with monitoring and 
                reporting violations of such Peace Agreement and 
                verifying the demilitarization of Juba; and
                    (D) obstructing humanitarian access to civilian 
                populations in dire need of assistance;
            (2) the lifting of a United Nations arms embargo should be 
        contingent upon the Government of South Sudan--
                    (A) implementing a permanent ceasefire as called 
                for in the Peace Agreement;
                    (B) complying with its obligations under the status 
                of forces agreement with the United Nations;
                    (C) bearing the primary responsibility as a 
                sovereign state to protect its citizens from gross 
                human rights abuses and forced displacement perpetrated 
                by the warring parties, including the Sudan People's 
                Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Sudan People's 
                Liberation Army--In Opposition (SPLA-IO);
                    (D) cooperating with and supporting the work of the 
                Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission established 
                by the Peace Agreement;
                    (E) establishing the Commission for Truth, 
                Reconciliation, and Healing, the Hybrid Court for South 
                Sudan, and the Compensation and Reparation Authority, 
                as called for in the Peace Agreement; and
                    (F) allowing for consistent, unimpeded humanitarian 
                access to vulnerable civilian populations; and
            (3) the international community should continue to support 
        civilians, particularly women and children, who have been 
        adversely affected by the civil war in South Sudan and should 
        promote peace and reconciliation dialogues within local civil 
        society.
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