Today, OFAC designated Gordon Koang Biel (Biel), Gatluak Nyang Hoth (Hoth), and Joseph Mantiel Wajang (Wajang), the Koch County Commissioner, the Mayendit County Commissioner, and the Unity State Governor, respectively. Between February and April 2022, government-aligned forces and allied militias under Biel and Hoth’s command were responsible for systematic rape, often accompanied by other human rights violations, perpetrated against women and girls during armed attacks in Leer County of Unity State. An investigation by the United Nations revealed that these armed groups used sexual slavery, including rape and gang rape, of abducted women and girls as an incentive and reward for combatants. After the attacks, Biel and Hoth did not hold their forces accountable. Biel encouraged his forces to continue these abuses by ordering the rape of women and girls that were captured. As Unity State Governor, Wajang, appointed Biel and Hoth as county commissioners, and was aware of the attacks but did not prevent, discourage, or institute any form of sanction against Biel and Hoth for their role in the serious crimes committed.
Biel, Hoth, and Wajang are being designated for being responsible for or complicit in, or for having engaged in, directly or indirectly, actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, or stability of South Sudan pursuant to E.O. 13664.
South Sudan Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 558; Executive Order 13664
Regime
OFAC country specific
Target State
South Sudan
Measures
Blocking Property, Suspending Entry
Official Information
On July 1, 2014, OFAC issued the South Sudan Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 558 (79 FR 37190, July 1, 2014) (the “Regulations”), to implement Executive Order (E.O.) 13664 of April 3, 2014, “Blocking Property of Certain Persons With Respect to South Sudan” (79 FR 19283, April 7, 2014), pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 13664. The Regulations were initially issued in abbreviated form for the purpose of providing immediate guidance to the public. OFAC is revising the Regulations to further implement E.O. 13664. OFAC is amending and reissuing the Regulations as a more comprehensive set of regulations that includes additional interpretive guidance and definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public. Due to the number of regulatory sections being updated or added, OFAC is reissuing the Regulations in their entirety.
On April 3, 2014, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), issued E.O. 13664. In E.O. 13664, the President found that the situation in and in relation to South Sudan, which has been marked by activities that threaten the peace, security, or stability of South Sudan and the surrounding region, including widespread violence and atrocities, human rights abuses, recruitment and use of child soldiers, attacks on peacekeepers, and obstruction of humanitarian operations, poses an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.
