U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley is urging the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo and additional sanctions on South Sudan to pressure the parties to end the civil war in the world’s newest nation — but Russia and China remain opposed.

Haley warned the council on Tuesday that 5.5 million people — half of South Sudan’s population — face “life-threatening hunger if nothing changes soon.”

She said, “We must not wait for more deaths, more displacement and more destruction before we have the courage to act.”

But Russia and China said new sanctions won’t end the conflict.

South Sudan’s civil war began in December 2013 and has grown more intense. U.N. envoy David Shearer told the council no party has shown interest in reviving a 2015 peace agreement.

(AP)