The leaders of Kenya and Ethiopia arrived in South Sudan on Thursday to try and mediate between the country’s president and the political rivals he accuses of attempting a coup that the Government insists sparked violence that has threatened to destroy the world’s newest country.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will meet with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir later on Thursday, said Information Minister Michael Makuei lueth.
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 Kiir and his political rivals. Kiir said in a Christmas address that he is willing to “dialogue” with all his opponents.
The United Nations is investigating reports of mass killings since violence began spreading across South Sudan after a fight among the presidential guards on December 15, pitting soldiers from Kiir’s Dinka ethnic group against those from the Nuer ethnic group of former Vice President Riek Machar.
South Sudan’s top UN humanitarian official, Toby lanzer, said on Monday that he believes the death toll has surpassed 1,000.
leuth, the information minister, said the Government has not yet established formal contact with Machar, who has been accused of leading what the Government insists was a failed coup plot, because “the rebel” was expected to first renounce violence.