The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on a retired Israeli major general for allegedly supplying weapons and ammunition to both the government and the opposition in South Sudan. The Treasury Department also slapped sanctions on a former South Sudanese official and a wealthy South Sudanese businessman for their roles in fueling the conflict.
Israel Ziv, a retired Israeli major general and owner of security consulting group Global CST, used an agricultural company "as a cover for the sale of approximately $150 million worth of weapons to the government, including rifles, grenade launchers, and shoulder-fired rockets," the Treasury Department said in a statement.
"While Ziv maintained the loyalty of senior Government of South Sudan officials through bribery and promises of security support, he has also reportedly planned to organize attacks by mercenaries on South Sudanese oil fields and infrastructure, in an effort to create a problem that only his company and affiliates could solve," it said.
The Treasury Department said sanctions were being imposed on Gregory Vasili who - while governor of Gogrial State in South Sudan in 2017 - "oversaw an explosion of intra-clan ethnic violence that resulted in scores of civilians being killed and thousands displaced from their homes."
"Separate from his aggravation of local conflict, Vasili has been involved in various illicit activities, including involvement in a major food procurement scandal and winning gas contracts from the South Sudanese military while he was still serving in it," it said. The Treasury Department said the other individual being sanctioned was South Sudanese businessman Obac William Olawo, who was accused of being "engaged in the trade and shipment of arms and armaments to South Sudan."