South Sudan government, rebels in Ethiopia for ceasefire talks

South Sudan's warring parties were due to start peace talks Thursday in the Ethiopian capital in a bid to end nearly three weeks of conflict that has left thousands dead in the world's newest nation.

Government and rebel negotiating teams arrived in Addis Ababa on Wednesday evening and while talks were expected Thursday, formal negotiations may not open for several days, Ethiopia's foreign minister said.

UN special envoy Hilde Johnson said in Juba it was "positive that they are sending delegations," underscoring the dire need for "reconciliation and healing" after the violence that has forced 200,000 people to flee their homes.

"We have seen terrible acts of violence in the past two weeks... and as we know, if there is no one held accountable, there is a major risk that the violence can continue," she added.

Fighting erupted in South Sudan on December 15, when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of attempting a coup.

More from GlobalPost: How South Sudan ended up at the brink of civil war

Machar has denied this, in turn accusing the president of conducting a violent purge of his opponents, and the fighting has spread across the country, with the rebels seizing several areas in the oil-rich north.

On Tuesday they recaptured Bor, the capital of Jonglei state just 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of the capital Juba.

The government confirmed on Wednesday that it had lost control of Bor, which has changed hands three times in the past two weeks, as fighting reportedly continued in the area.


Thousands of people are feared dead, UN officials say, while close to 200,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes — many seeking refuge with badly overstretched UN peacekeepers.

The conflict has also been marked by an upsurge of ethnic violence pitting members of Kiir's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer community, and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said that "atrocities are continuing to occur" across the country.

Tens of thousands flee fighting

UNMISS reported "extra-judicial killings of civilians and captured soldiers" and the "discovery of large numbers of bodies" in Juba, Bor and Malakal, the main town in oil-producing Upper Nile state.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said residents continue to pour by the thousand out of Jonglei and across the White Nile into Awerial county in neighbouring Lakes state.

"The road to the river is lined with thousands of people, with others waiting for boats to carry them across," said Francois Moreillon, ICRC deputy head of delegation.

The UN last week estimated that some 70,000 people had already fled into Awerial.

The UN mission also said it was "actively collecting information" on the atrocities to be used for future official investigations.

On Tuesday, Machar told AFP via satellite phone that he was not yet ready to agree to an immediate ceasefire nor hold face-to-face talks with Kiir, and that his forces were marching on the capital Juba.

"There is no cessation of hostilities yet," Machar said. "That is what the delegation going to Addis Ababa is going to discuss and to negotiate. I will follow later, once the negotiations have resulted in a cessation of hostilities. It depends on if and when that is achieved."

Kiir has described the war as "senseless", but has ruled out power sharing with the rebels. The president has also rejected rebel demands that a number of their loyalists, arrested shortly after the violence started, be released.

"What power sharing? It is not an option. This man has rebelled. If you want power, you don't rebel so that you are awarded with the power," Kiir said in an interview broadcast on the BBC.

South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of civil war.

Ekleyen HayalPrensesi on 06:59 in Haber, South Sudan

South Sudan sees 'mass ethnic killings'

South Sudan sees 'mass ethnic killings'
New evidence is emerging of alleged ethnic killings committed during more than a week of fighting in South Sudan.

The violence follows a power struggle between President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, and his Nuer ex-deputy Riek Machar.

A reporter in the capital, Juba, quoted witnesses as saying more than 200 people, mostly from the Nuer ethnic group, were shot by security forces.

Another man in Juba said gunmen from the majority Dinka ethnic group were shooting people in Nuer areas.

The fighting first erupted in Juba last week and has spread throughout South Sudan, with rebels supporting Mr Machar seizing the major towns of Bor and Bentiu, north of the capital.

Mr Kiir has accused Mr Machar, who he sacked in July, of mounting a coup. Mr Machar denies he is trying to seize power, while the government has denied it is behind any ethnic violence.




The BBC's James Copnall explains the fighting gripping the world's newest state, South Sudan - in 60 seconds

The fear is that the personal rivalry between the former allies will spark a full-scale conflict between the Nuer and Dinka groups.

'Eyewitness account'

Hannah McNeish, a journalist in Juba, told the BBC that she had interviewed a man called Simon, living at a UN camp, who said he was shot four times but managed to survive a mass killing by hiding under dead bodies.

"He tells of being rounded up with about 250 other men, driven to a police station in one of Juba's busiest suburbs. He describes an ordeal whereby over the course of two days, forces outside the windows fired into this room, killing all but 12 men," she said.
McNeish said this account had been corroborated by two other survivors at the camp.

Another man interviewed at the UN base in Juba reported that Dinka gunmen were shooting people in Nuer districts who did not speak the Dinka language.

UN humanitarian co-ordinator Toby Lanzer, who was in Bor over the weekend, told the BBC he had witnessed "some of the most horrible things that one can imagine".

The claims of atrocities have not been independently verified.

'Face the consequences'

The official death toll stands at 500, but aid agencies say the true figure is likely to be much higher.

Another 81,000 people have been displaced, the UN's humanitarian agency says, with about half seeking shelter at UN bases.

It warned many more people could be affected in more remote areas.

The UN has 7,000 soldiers deployed in South Sudan, but on Monday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to reassign another 5,500 troops from UN missions in other African countries, including Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He also asked for hundreds more police, three attack helicopters, three transport helicopters and one military transport plane.

He has said all reports of human rights violations and crimes against humanity will be investigated and those responsible held accountable.

Two Indian peacekeepers were killed last week in a rebel raid on a UN compound.

President Kiir has said he is willing to hold talks with Mr Machar - and that a delegation of East African foreign ministers had offered to mediate - but that his former deputy would have to come to the table without any conditions.

Mr Machar told Reuters news agency that he was open to dialogue if his political allies were released from detention.
Sudan suffered a 22-year civil war that left more than one million people dead before the South became independent in 2011.

Ekleyen HayalPrensesi on 01:14 in foreign news, South Sudan

South Sudan Political instability on the rise

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Growing levels of conflict, terrorism, and the toppling of regimes in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as political violence in East Africa, are driving a rise in political instability worldwide, according to research by UK risk analysis firm, Maplecroft released on Thursday.

Since 2010, one in ten of the countries surveyed have experienced a significant increase in the level of short-term political risk.

These risks include governments asserting control over natural resources, regimes being ousted by popular uprisings and the expropriation of foreign investors' assets.

The findings form part of the latest Maplecroft Political Risk Atlas, which uses 52 indicators to help companies monitor political issues affecting the business environment in 197 countries.Since 2010, Syria has deteriorated the most. It now ranks second compared with a 44th place ranking in 2010. Somalia topped the rankings.

Afghanistan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo also ranked in the top five.

Egypt has been downgraded to "extreme risk" for the first time as a result of violence following the ousting of former President Mohamed Morsy and an increase in terrorist attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, the report said.

Maplecroft warned that Syria, Egypt and Libya are "now so bad" that they will be "mired in exceptionally high levels of dynamic political risk for years to come."

A fall in political violence in the Philippines, India and Uganda has contributed to these countries experiencing the biggest reduction in short-term political risk over the past four years.

Improvements in the level of governance has also helped to lower risk levels in Malaysia and Israel in the same period.

Social unrest

The report said there is a higher chance for social unrest to exacerbate political instability in Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

"This is due to the erosion of democratic freedoms, increasing crackdowns on political position and the brutality by security forces towards protesters, compounded by rising food prices and worsening working conditions," Maplecroft said in a statement.

Another concern for foreign investors is that there has been a major increase in oppression by governments worldwide.

"This erosion of political freedoms is central to driving the wider risk of unrest and instability in the medium- to long term," said Charlotte Ingham, senior political risk analyst at Maplecroft.

In the short term, foreign investors face a heightened risk of becoming complicit with the actions of these oppressive regimes, which poses a threat to a company's reputation, the think tank said.

Empowered youth

Instability increases as the gap grows between political freedoms and social gains, such as education and computer literacy among young people.

In 2010, prior to the the Arab Spring, Libya, Tunisia, Iran, Syria and Egypt were among the countries with the biggest divide between political freedoms and social gains.

Maplecroft predicts that the growing imbalance between social gains and political freedoms in Bahrain, Azerbaijan and South Africa will heighten the risk of instability in those countries in 2014 and beyond.

Although China is categorized as "extreme risk" in Maplecroft's ranking of oppressive regimes, the speed of the country's governance reforms is likely to be sufficient to limit the chances of widespread social unrest that could lead to a "jasmine" revolution, according to the think tank.

But China's increased scrutiny of foreign business practices has created compliance challenges for companies operating there, the report added.

Maplecroft cautioned that Vietnam's crackdown on social media and freedom of speech amid growing opposition may undermine the stability of the government in the long term.

Poland has experienced a significant increase in the level of political freedoms over the past four years, according to Maplecroft, and now displays a "near perfect balance" between the level of political freedoms and social gains, which reduces the likelihood of protests and disputes over labor conditions.

Political violence

East African countries saw the biggest increase in the risk of political violence, including terrorism, poor governance, and regimes vulnerable to popular uprisings. Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan scored in the "extreme risk" category, while Kenya and Ethiopia are "high risk." Eritrea, Tanzania and Mozambique also saw a change in their risk category.

Three years after the Arab Spring, more than 60% of countries in the Middle East and North Africa region have seen a significant rise in political violence, demonstrating the long-term political risks associated with forced regime change, the report said.

In the West, the impact of the global financial crisis continues to be seen in high levels of unemployment and underemployment.

This, combined with austerity measures, has contributed to growing inequality and stalling or declining living standards, according to Maplecroft.

Political landscapes both in Europe and the United States have become increasingly fragmented and polarized as populist parties flourished in response to growing voter dissatisfaction with established political parties over these issues.

Ekleyen HayalPrensesi on 04:05 in foreign news, South Sudan