South Sudanese peace talks to begin

South Sudanese rival groups have agreed to negotiate a ceasefire in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to stop the two-week violence which erupted on December 15 in the capital, Juba, and rapidly spread to some other major states, the Sudan Tribune reported Wednesday. The two sides have reached a compromise by dropping some of their preconditions to the talks. The delegation includes two members of the ruling party’s political bureau and the acting governor of Jonglei state. Kiir and Machar, are also expected to join the face-to-face talks soon, a source said. The violence fitted President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar in the wake of misunderstandings between presidential guard units in the capital. Kiir described the incident as an attempted coup by Machar and his group while the latter dismissed the claim saying that was simply a misunderstanding between the soldiers. He accused Kiir of using the incident to get rid of his political opponents. The fighting spread largely on tribal lines when the Nuer civilians were targeted in Juba by the SPLA forces loyal to President Salva Kiir. Attempts to bring the two warring parties to the negotiating table failed as preconditions were set before the 31 December deadline. Source: MENA