Presidents of South Sudan and Kenya push for a resolution in stalled peace talks

Associated Press

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan peace talks, previously held in neighboring Kenya, will resume under a directive from South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto, who met Wednesday and directed the mediation team to reconvene and resolve all outstanding issues within two weeks. The talks had stalled after Kiir’s former rival, Riek Machar’s party withdrew in July, citing plans by the mediators to replace the 2018 peace agreement that ended a five-year civil war in which more than 400,000 people died. South Sudan is going through an economic crisis that has seen civil servants go unpaid for almost one year, after oil exports were disrupted by a damaged pipeline in war-torn neighboring Sudan.