By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, July 1 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday blacklisted six rival military commanders in South Sudan for threatening the peace and stability of the world's newest state, diplomats said.
The men, three from either side of South Sudan's conflict, are the first to be sanctioned by the Security Council's South Sudan sanctions committee, which operates by consensus. They are now subjected to a global travel ban and asset freeze.
The United States, supported by Britain and France, proposed the names for targeted sanctions.
South Sudan plunged into civil war in December 2013 when a political crisis sparked fighting between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels allied with his former deputy Riek Machar. The conflict has reopened ethnic fault lines that pit Kiir's Dinka people against Machar's ethnic Nuer forces.
The men sanctioned on the government side are: Major-General Marial Chanuong Yol Mangok, commander of Kiir's guard unit; sector one commander Lieutenant-General Gabriel Jok Riak; and third division commander Major-General Santino Deng Wol.
On the rebel side, the blacklisted men are: Major-General Simon Gatwech Dual, chief of general staff for the opposition forces; Major-General James Koang Chuol, commander of the opposition special division; and Major-General Peter Gadet, the deputy chief of staff of operations for the opposition forces. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by David Gregorio)
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