President Obama to discuss “Plan B” on South Sudan crisis

President Barack Obama will discuss a “Plan B” for South Sudan during a meeting with African leaders today.

Some of the measures that could be adopted if the country’s warring parties do not forge a peace deal by mid-August may include sanctions or other penalties, according to a U.S. official quoted by Reuters.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as Obama travelled to Ethiopia from Kenya, the official said Monday’s meeting may fail to lead to a breakthrough to halt the country’s civil war adding that penalties have been considered to push for peace.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ugandan president Yoder Museveni, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, and the Sudan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Mansour Yousif Al-Ajab are all expected to attend the meeting in Addis Ababa. Representatives from South Sudan were not invited.

Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a bloc of African countries which has been leading peace efforts between backers of the nation’s president, Salva Kiir, and opposition leader Riek Machar had set an August 17 deadline for both sides to accept a final offer.

Elements of Plan B

“I don’t think anybody should have high expectations that this is going to yield a breakthrough. The parties have shown themselves to be utterly indifferent to their country and their people, and that is a hard thing to rectify,” she said.

Elements of a “Plan B” could include an arms embargo and sanctions on individuals’ assets and travel. Sanctions could be implemented with other countries in the region, the European Union, or the United Nations.

Fighting in the country, which broke out in December 2013, has so far killed thousands of people and displaced more than 2.2 million people.