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Swift South Sudan peace deal dashed as talks stall

Members of the delegation representing the government of South Sudan board a plane at Juba International Airport on January 2, 2014 for Addis Ababa/AFP

Members of the delegation representing the government of South Sudan board a plane at Juba International Airport on January 2, 2014 for Addis Ababa/AFP

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 4 – Warring parties in South Sudan delayed direct peace talks on Saturday dashing hopes of a swift ceasefire to end raging fighting and the risk of a slide into all-out civil war.

While top leaders of the government and rebel teams have briefly met directly, the rivals continued Saturday to hold separate talks with negotiators.

No timeline has been set for the crucial face-to-face talks to begin, despite the teams having already spent three days in the same luxury hotel in neighbouring Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

Thousands of people are feared to have been killed in the fighting since it erupted on December 15, pitting army units loyal to President Salva Kiir against a loose alliance of ethnic militia forces and mutinous army commanders nominally headed by his rival, former vice president Riek Machar.

In South Sudan Saturday the army battled to wrest back control of the oil town of Bor from rebels.

“Our forces are still moving towards Bor, there were heavy battles on Friday,” army spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP, dismissing rebel claims they had been marching on the capital Juba.

There were reports of intense battles involving tanks and artillery on the outskirts of Bor, a dusty strategic town that has already exchanged hands three times since fighting began almost three weeks ago.

The ongoing fighting prompted the top UN aid official in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, to warn that soldiers and rebels must protect civilians and aid workers, or risk worsening a situation he described as critical.

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