“More people arrived at our bases in Juba… we’re up to 30,000 in the capital alone,” Lanzer said late Friday.
The US embassy in South Sudan ordered a further pullout of staff on Friday because of the “deteriorating security situation”, although Washington — a key backer of the fledgling state — insisted it remains committed to ending the violence.
In Addis Ababa, there appeared little sign of swift progress.
South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei, part of the delegation to the talks, as well as rebel team spokesman Yohanis Musa Pouk, said the two sides would not meet until an agenda had been drafted by negotiators and agreed by both sides.
Makuei told AFP the two leaders of the delegations had met briefly, but that the teams were now “waiting to hear the way forward” from the negotiators, who are from the regional East African IGAD bloc of nations.
“The heads of the two delegations need to agree on an agenda… maybe tomorrow or after tomorrow,” rebel spokesman Pouk said.
IGAD, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, whose members include the talks host Ethiopia as well as Kenya and Uganda — all strong backers of Kiir’s government — played key roles in pushing forward the 2005 deal that ended Sudan’s two-decade-long civil war.
Uganda has deployed troops inside South Sudan to evacuate its citizens and bolster support for Kiir.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague has called Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to discuss Kampala’s role in South Sudan, without giving further details.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom Friday had spoken optimistically that direct talks would take place on Saturday, after the rival sides spent a day of meeting separately with special envoys from regional nations.
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