subSUDAN

South Sudanese soldiers on Wednesday in Bor, which the army retook after it fell to rebels. (Photo credit: James Akena/Reuters)

As clashes between government troops and rebels in South Sudan continue, the UN has reported that 180,000 people have been displaced and over 1,000 have been killed since mid-December.

Below is an article from the New York Times that gives an overview of the conflict, and discusses the efforts being taken toward a peaceful resolution.

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JUBA, South Sudan — President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia arrived on Thursday in South Sudan for talks with President Salva Kiir, pressing for a political solution to the fighting that has engulfed this young nation for more than a week.

Diplomats from Africa, Europe and the United States have urgently called for the two sides in the crisis to begin negotiations before the violence escalates into an all-out civil war. Officials called the closed-door discussion with Mr. Kiir and the two regional leaders on Thursday constructive, but the hoped-for result — a plan to begin formal talks between the two sides — was not announced after the session, which lasted hours.

Even as the meeting took place, a spokesman for the South Sudanese military, Col. Philip Aguer, said that government forces were waging a pitched battle against rebels in Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile State, with the government controlling the city’s north and the rebels the south.

The crisis in South Sudan began in mid-December after what Mr. Kiir described as a coup attempt by soldiers loyal to the former vice president, Riek Machar. Mr. Kiir dismissed Mr. Machar and the entire cabinet in July. Mr. Machar remains in an undisclosed location after fleeing the capital. Many of his allies were arrested, and he has said their release is a precondition for starting talks, a position Mr. Kiir has rejected.

But the political dispute has spiraled into a broader humanitarian crisis. The United Nations special representative to South Sudan, Hilde Johnson, said in a videoconference from the capital here on Thursday that well over 1,000 lives had already been lost in the conflict. More than 50,000 people are seeking refuge at United Nations compounds across the country. The peacekeeping force is overstretched trying to protect them, she said, adding that she expected reinforcements of personnel and equipment within 48 hours.

Ms. Johnson said the United Nations did not see the conflict coming. “We knew that there were tensions and that this could lead to problems, but I don’t think any South Sudanese, nor any of us observers, in country or outside, expected an unraveling of the stability so quickly,” she said.

The dispute stems from a power struggle between grudging collaborators turned outright rivals, but the violence quickly shifted into attacks against civilians and reprisals between ethnic groups. Mr. Kiir is a Dinka, the country’s largest ethnic group, while Mr. Machar is a Nuer, its second largest. South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of civil war.

Read the article in its entirety.