Kenyan and Ethiopian leaders yesterday met President Salva Kiir to discuss the army mutiny.
The leaders of Kenya and Ethiopia arrived in South Sudan yesterday, December 26, 2013, to try and mediate between the country's President and a political rival he accuses of attempting a coup on December 15, 2013 that sparked the ongoing violence in the world's newest country.
Fox News cited South Sudan’s Information Minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, as announcing that Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn met President Salva Kiir Mayardit. World leaders have urged the country's leaders to stop the violence in which thousands are feared killed. The United States, Norway and Ethiopia are leading efforts to open peace talks between President Kiir and former Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Tney.
Speaking to worshippers in the capital, Juba, on Christmas Day 2013, President Kiir denounced the killing of innocent civilians on tribal basis, saying he ordered security forces to bring to book the "criminals," the Sudan Tribune newspaper reported. Addressing a service at the Cathedral Church, Kator, Juba, the Head of State admitted that elements of his forces carried out wanton killings in the capital. The warning came after reports by rights groups and activists on the targeting of people because of their ethnic belonging since the failed putsch and the ensuing army mutiny.
Meanwhile, South Sudan’s government on Wednesday December 25, 2013, said troops loyal to her were still in control of much of Upper Nile, the country’s second largest oil-producing state. Upper Nile State Governor, Simon Kun Puoc, dismissed claims that forces loyal to Riek Machar captured the state capital, Malakal. He admitted that fighting was going on since Tuesday, December 24, 2013, “but the army had been able to quickly flush out those attempting to destabilize security,” the Sudan Tribune reported.
Radio France Internationale, RFI said yesterday that fighting between the army and Riek Machar’s mutineers had now spread to five of the country’s 10 states. Having retaken Bor, the capital of Jonglei State earlier this week, the army appears bent on recapturing Bentiu, the headquarters of the oil-rich Unity State.
