South Sudan: I Will Sit Down With Him - Riek (Machar) - and Talk, Says Kiir

By NewsfromAfrica

JUBA – South Sudan President Salva Kiir said Wednesday December 18 he was ready to "sit down" with his arch-rival, former vice president Riek Machar to try to solve the crisis. Kiir has blamed the bloodshed on an attempted coup bid against him.

“I will sit down with him – Riek Machar – and talk… but I don’t know what the results of the talks will be,” Kiir told reporters.

Kiir accuses soldiers loyal to Machar for staging a coup attempt in the oil-rich but deeply impoverished nation, which has struggled with instability since becoming independent in 2011.

But Machar, who was sacked by the president in July and is now a fugitive denied any coup attempt. He has instead accused Kiir of using the violence as a pretext to purge any challengers.

"Kiir wanted to use the alleged coup attempt in order to get rid of us," Machar told the Paris-based Sudan Tribune website in his first public remarks since the fighting erupted.

UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the UN Security Council that between 400 and 500 bodies had been reportedly taken to hospitals in Juba since the fighting broke out, while another 800 people had been wounded.

The government said 10 key figures, many of them former ministers, have been arrested in the crackdown, and that others, including Machar, were on the run.

Kiir also said powerful military commander Peter Gadet – who rebelled in 2011 but then rejoined the army – had mutinied again, launching attacks in the eastern state of Jonglei in support of Machar.

Fighting was reported overnight Tuesday in Jonglei’s state capital Bor, with shooting breaking out again in the early hours of Wednesday.

“Those who have killed people will be taken to court and be tried,” Kiir said, urging calm and calling on the thousands seeking shelter at United Nations peacekeeping bases to return home.

The United States used two C-130 military transport planes and a charter aircraft to fly 150 Americans as well as US and foreign diplomats out of the country, the State Department said.

"The security situation was getting ugly. There was shooting at the airport," a US Defence Department official said on condition of anonymity.

Further flights could follow after Washington urged all Americans to depart the country immediately.

Britain also announced some of its embassy staff were temporarily leaving the country.

Several regional airlines resumed flights at Juba's airport, with long lines of aid workers and expatriates boarding the first flight they could out of the country. Others left by bus for Uganda. (READ: Uganda shuts border to avert crisis spillover)

The United Nations is warning that violence was spreading in South Sudan, as fierce fighting in the world's youngest nation prompted the US to evacuate Americans and other foreigners.

There were fears in the international community that the poor and unstable nation, which became independent from Sudan in 2011, could slide back into civil war.