The United States and other foreign powers stepped up pressure on South Sudan's feuding ethnic factions to settle their differences, as Washington dispatched an envoy to the violence-wracked region.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday he was sending a special envoy to encourage talks between opposing factions in the world's newest country, which has erupted into brutal fighting with a mounting death toll.
"Now is the time for South Sudan's leaders to rein in armed groups under their control, immediately cease attacks on civilians, and end the chain of retributive violence between different ethnic and political groups," Kerry said, as he announced plans to dispatch Ambassador Donald Booth, his special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, to the region.
The announcement came one day after President Barack Obama said in a message to Congress that the United States has deployed 45 troops to protect US personnel and assets in South Sudan.
African ministers also were stepping up pressure on President Salva Kiir to start talks with his former vice president Riek Machar, and met with the president Friday in the capital, Juba.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the violence for the second time in as many days, issuing an appeal yesterday for renewed efforts to restore peace.
He called for "all parties to exercise restraint, and to cease hostilities", one day after an attack on a UN base killed at least 11 civilians and two Indian peacekeepers.
Violence erupted after a meeting last week of leaders of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) failed to ease tensions in the party.
Kiir has accused Machar, whom he fired in July along with his entire cabinet, of staging an attempted coup. The former vice president has denied the charge, but his whereabouts are unknown.
Even as diplomatic initiatives were multiplying in South Sudan, the death toll continued to climb as violence spread between rival ethnic groups.
Six days into the battles between followers of Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and Machar, a Nuer, at least 500 people have been killed in Juba alone.
Foreign governments meanwhile scrambled to get their nationals out of harm's way.
Obama said Thursday that the contingent of US troops sent this week "will remain in South Sudan until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed".
"Although equipped for combat, this force was deployed for the purpose of protecting US citizens and property," he added.
