South Sudan rebels take nearly all of key city

Associated Press

JUBA, South Sudan

Anti-government rebels in South Sudan took control of nearly all of a strategic city Tuesday, even as officials announced that representatives from the government and the rebels agreed to hold talks for the first time.

The announcement that talks soon would take place in neighboring Ethiopia was the first political breakthrough since ethnically based violence began coursing through South Sudan late Dec. 15. The violence has killed more than 1,000 people — a number that is believed to be a low estimate — and has seen the country’s two most powerful ethnic groups fight each other.

The U.S. envoy to the region, Donald Booth, met with President Salva Kiir on Tuesday — their fourth meeting in eight days — and spoke on the phone with the former vice president, Riek Machar, who is accused by the government of having tried to carry out a coup, a charge he denies.

Earlier in the day, heavy fighting erupted in Bor, the contested provincial capital of Jonglei state, which is a short drive from the capital, Juba. Government troops battled renegade forces loyal to Machar including the Nuer tribal militia known as the “White Army,” said military spokesman Col. Philip Aguer.