United Nations: With the Indian peacekeepers in South Sudan, the world's newest country, hunkered down protecting refugees as intense fighting rages around them, the UN Security Council is monitoring the situation there and hoped targeted sanctions would help resolve the conflict, Council President Ramlan Bin Ibrahim said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, Ibrahim said, "We are closely monitoring" the situation in South Sudan and "we are looking at developments in the region and what sort of signals" are there. "We hope that the establishment of targeted sanctions mechanism" under Council resolutions "will provide the necessary incentives for the parties to the conflict to reach a peaceful settlement," Ibrahim, who took over the rotating Council presidency for June said.