U.N. Security Council Threaten S.Sudan Leaders with Sanctions

U.N. Security Council envoys warned South Sudan's warring leaders Tuesday they would face sanctions if a civil war that has pushed the young nation to the brink of famine does not stop.

"The council has made it very clear: that it is prepared to impose consequences if there continue to be spoilers, if there continue to be people carrying out gross violations of human rights," U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said after meeting with President Salva Kiir.

Representatives of the 15-member council, who arrived in the capital Juba Tuesday on a two-day mission, are due also to meet rebel chief Riek Machar.

"We will not tolerate violation of the cessation of hostilities and people who spoil the peace agreement," Power told reporters, in one of the strongest warnings yet.

"We have delivered that message here, we will deliver it to Riek Machar," she added.

Thousands of people have been killed and over 1.5 million have fled almost eight months of carnage sparked by a power struggle between Kiir and his sacked deputy Machar, with battles between government troops, mutinous soldiers and ragtag militia forces divided by tribe.

"The parties must know that the people of South Sudan have suffered enough," Rwandan ambassador Eugene-Richard Gasana told reporters.

"The international community will not look on as a seemingly endless situation goes on."

The ambassadors later left to visit the northern town of Malakal, one of the hardest hit areas in the fighting.

The town has been left in ruins after swapping hands several times between government and rebels.

Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial told reporters the diplomats would be "shown what South Sudan is doing with regard to peace".

Power said there were "very worrying reports" more weapons and arms were being brought into South Sudan for a fresh offensive, warning there was "no military solution" to end the conflict.

"There is a grave risk of famine that now looms, that hangs over this visit," she added.

"Fifty thousand children under five are at risk of dying by malnutrition in the coming months, and around half of this country’s population is facing grave food insecurity."

The United Nations has said the South Sudan food crisis is the "worst in the world", with aid workers warning of famine within weeks if conflict continues.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday accused both sides of failing to commit to the peace process, a day after they missed a key deadline to forge a unity government.

"Deadlines keep passing and innocent people keep dying," Kerry said.

Stop-start peace talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa which began in January officially restarted again last week, but the delegates have made little if any progress.

"This is an outrage and an insult to the people of South Sudan," Kerry said. "Their leaders are letting them down again and again."

The United States and the European Union have already imposed penalties on three senior army commanders from the government and opposition, while the regional IGAD bloc have suggested they could follow suit if progress was not made.

Aid agencies have condemned what they say is a determination by leaders to try to defeat the other militarily.

"With the peace talks in Addis Ababa stalling, continuing violence throughout the country and a man-made food security crisis, the situation for South Sudan could not be more urgent," Oxfam's Tariq Riebl said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch has called for an arms embargo and sanctions in an open letter to the Security Council, reporting "extraordinary acts of cruelty that amount to war crimes".