Preliminary talks held about crisis in South Sudan

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA— South Sudan’s warring factions held preliminary meetings Friday ahead of the official start of negotiations in neighbouring Ethiopia, mediators said.

Dina Mufti, a spokesman for Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry, said the introductory meetings were necessary to bridge the groups’ differences ahead of direct talks expected to start Saturday. The meetings are being held at Addis Ababa’s Sheraton Hotel.

Meanwhile, both sides continue to fight in the world’s newest country, and the U.S. Embassy in Juba, the capital, said Friday the Department of State ordered a “further drawdown” of embassy personnel because of the “deteriorating security situation.” An evacuation flight was being arranged Friday, the statement said.

South Sudan’s government has declared a state of emergency in Unity and Jonglei, two states whose capitals are under rebel control. On Thursday, the central government warned that rebels loyal to ousted vice-president Riek Machar were preparing to march to Juba from Bor, the capital of Jonglei state that has been the scene of fierce fighting between government troops and rebels. South Sudan’s military said Thursday it had sent reinforcements to Bor, 120 kilometres from Juba.

South of Bor, thousands of families have been fleeing to the Nile River region of Awerial. Families are now camping out in the shade below any tree they can find. Aid groups estimate that tens of thousands of residents — perhaps between 60,000 and 75,000 — have streamed out of Bor in search of safety from a group of Lou Nuer attackers — fighters seen as loyal to Machar — referred to by some as the White Army.

The International Red Cross says Awerial is the “largest single identified concentration of displaced people in the country so far.”