This archive report was first published on 5 May 2020.
On May 31, a decade-long United Nations arms embargo on South Sudan is set to expire, but investigations by Amnesty International have revealed that the disarmament, demobilization, and rehabilitation process has been marred by violations.
Since the embargo was imposed in July 2018, all armed groups in South Sudan have received arms and spares that were not on the ground at the time, according to an investigation by Amnesty International.
Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's director for East and Southern Africa, said: 'Renewing the embargo on South Sudan is a crucial part of the efforts against violation because weapons have been used to commit horrific human rights violations and war crimes throughout the conflict.'
Amnesty International investigators visited 12 military camps and found evidence of newly imported small arms and ammunition, concealment of weapons, and diversion of armoured vehicles for military use not approved under the arms transfer licences.
The investigators identified several Romanian, East German, and Chinese weapons, which are not newly manufactured but are believed to have been newly shipped to South Sudan, constituting a violation of the UN arms embargo.
Amnesty International also discovered that the South Sudan government's fleet of Mi-24 attack helicopters was dysfunctional and grounded by the time of the embargo in July 2018, but has since acquired spare parts to refurbish the helicopters, violating the embargo.
A single attack helicopter costs $36 million, and parts and maintenance come at a premium, particularly when these components violate a UN arms embargo.
China claims it has not sold arms or ammunition to South Sudan since September 2014, but Amnesty International says that if the NSS acquired the ammunition directly from China, then either the Chinese government broke the arms embargo or sold the arms despite pledging not to.
