ADDIS ABABA: Direct talks between South Sudan’s president and the country’s rebel chief have failed to strike a peace deal, mediators said yesterday, but added that discussions would continue over the weekend.
President Salva Kiir and ousted vice president Riek Machar have held two days of meetings in Addis Ababa, with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalgen and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta leading the latest push for an end to the nearly 11-month-old civil war.
East African leaders have grown increasingly impatient with the warring sides, their slow-moving talks and repeated violations of several prior ceasefire deals, and have told them to “come to their senses”.
Yesterday, however, a statement from the Kenyan presidency said “a deal did not appear imminent” and that talks were set to drag on into a third day today.agencies
