SPLM-IO Leader, Dr. Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir. File photo/Eye Radio.

The United States is threatening to impose fresh sanctions against South Sudan leaders if they fail to form a coalition government as scheduled.

According to the September 2018 revitalized peace agreement, the parties must form a government of national unity next month.

However, the leaders have been making anti-peace statements lately.

During a prayer organized by the church at the presidential place in Juba recently, President Salva Kiir told the gathering that he would establish the new government of national unity with or without Dr. Riek Machar.

Dr. Machar is Kiir’s main co-signatory, whom the peace accord reinstates as the first vice president.

Just last week, Information Minister Michael Makuei categorically stated that incorporation of the R-ARCISS into constitution now is a joke.

On Thursday, an SPLM-IO Spokesperson, Mabior Garang Mabior, told the BBC that they would not be part of the transitional government if Juba does not implement all the security arrangements provided for by the peace pact.

“We’re not prepared to continue to hear arguments for why more time must be given. We think it’s past time, frankly, for the leadership to sit together and begin to find ways to move this country forward,” Bryan Hunt, the State Department’s office director for Sudan and South Sudan, told the media at the US Institute of Peace.

“Our view is that if the government is not formed by November 12, we’re going to need to re-evaluate the relationship between the United States and South Sudan.”

The five-year civil war, which was triggered by power wrangles between Kiir and Machar has reportedly cost nearly 400,000 deaths.

The coalition government is expected to help stabilize the country and eventually bring to an end the suffering of the people.

Hunt said options include sanctions targeting South Sudan’s elite or restrictions on their travel to the United States.