U.N. aid chief backs stepping up sanctions on South Sudan

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations' top aid official on Monday backed a decision by major powers to renew sanctions on South Sudanese leaders and to consider imposing asset freezes and travel bans in an effort to pressure all sides to end the five-year conflict.

Mark Lowcock, U.N. emergency relief coordinator who visited South Sudan in mid-May, also said that despite kidnappings, murders and lootings, aid workers would stay in the country, where seven million people rely on humanitarian aid to survive.