The U.S. Treasury Department issued a warning to banks about human-rights abusers accessing the financial system, and imposed sanctions on two new targets.

Both moves come as the Treasury highlights its role in combating corruption and human rights abuse.

A top Treasury sanctions and counter-terrorism official, Sigal Mandelker, is in Africa this week raising concerns about illicit funds flowing out of South Sudan. At a press conference on Monday at the U.S. embassy in Kampala, Uganda, she said regional governments should update their financial systems to detect, disrupt and prevent funds flowing from the war-torn country.

"When it comes to South Sudan, for obvious reasons, Uganda is of particular importance to us. We also know that much of the open source reporting indicates that South Sudanese elites are hiding assets and buying property right here in Uganda," she was quoted as saying by AP.

On Tuesday, the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, issued the advisory highlighting the connection between corrupt foreign political figures and their enabling of human-rights abusers, in part through the use of financial facilitators.