US slaps sanctions on two S.Sudan ministers over peace delay

The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on two sitting ministers in South Sudan, accusing them of obstructing the young country's peace efforts despite promises to form a unity government.

The order against Defense Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk and Martin Elia Lomuro, minister of cabinet affairs, freezes any assets they have in the United States and bans them from entering.

The sanctions "are intended to target senior leaders in South Sudan that have perpetuated the conflict for their own personal enrichment, leading to much suffering for the South Sudanese people," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The action is the latest by the United States -- a key supporter of the largely Christian nation's independence in 2011 from Arab- and Muslim-dominated Sudan -- to show impatience over a leadership battle that has fueled fighting that has killed nearly 400,000 people.

Under a peace deal, President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar had agreed to form a government by