SOUTH SUDAN PEACE TALKS DELAYED

Addis Ababa, 2 Rabi’ul Awal 1435/4 January 2014 (MINA) – Face-to-face talks between rival parties in South Sudan have been delayed, government and opposition delegations said, dashing hopes of a swift ceasefire to end raging battles and risks of all-out civil war.

South Sudan information minister, Michael Makuei, part of the delegation to the talks in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, as well as the opposition’s spokesman, Yohanis Musa Pouk, said the two sides would not meet on Saturday until an agenda had been drafted by negotiators and agreed by both sides.

It was not clear when they would be completed, Al Jazeera quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Also Read: Police Attack Muslims: Delhi People's Court

Makuei confirmed that the two leaders of the delegations met briefly late on Friday, although proper talks had not begun.

On Friday, the two sides held preliminary meetings before the official start of negotiations in a bid to end nearly three weeks of conflict, Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said.

Dina Mufti, a spokesman for the ministry, said that representatives of the government and opposition groups were meeting in the country’s capital, Addis Ababa.

“I cannot predict, it depends on the negotiations,” Mufti added.

Violence first erupted in South Sudan on December 15, when South Sudan President Salva Kiir accused to the ousted vice president Riek Machar of attempting a coup. Machar has denied this, in turn accusing Kiir of conducting a violent purge of his opponents.

Also Read: NO OPTION BUT TO ESCAPE OR FACE PHYSICAL DESTRUCTION: NURUL ISLAM, CHAIRMAN OF THE ARNO

The fighting has since spread across the country, with the opposition seizing several areas in the oil-rich north.

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

Jacob Kurtzer, a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Al Jazeera that refugees need immediate help.

The UN has said it will do everything it can to prevent further “terrible acts of violence” in South Sudan. (T/P09/E1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).