James Koang Chuol (Koang) has been designated for threatening the peace, security, or stability of South Sudan, and for being a leader of anti-government forces in Unity State, South Sudan, whose members targeted civilians, including women and children, with killing, sexual violence, and attacks on schools, hospitals, religious sites, and locations where civilians were seeking refuge.
Koang defected from his position as the Fourth Division commander of the South Sudanese military, also known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (“SPLA”) in December 2013. Taking orders from Koang, defecting soldiers executed as many as 260 of their on-base counterparts before targeting and killing civilians in the state capital of Bentiu.
In February 2014, after Koang was given command of anti-government forces in Unity State, those forces attacked United Nations camps, hospitals, churches, and schools, engaging in widespread rape, torture, and the destruction of property, in an attempt to flush out civilians, soldiers, and policemen allied with the government. On April 14-15, 2014, Koang’s forces captured Bentiu after heavy fighting and engaged in attacks against civilians. In separate incidents at a Bentiu mosque, church, and abandoned food compound, forces separated civilians who were taking shelter by their ethnicity and nationality before engaging in targeted killings, leaving at least 200 dead and 400 wounded.
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.
