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Juba – South Sudanese leader Salva Kiir has reportedly "prayed for what he describes as sins he may have committed while exercising his duty as the head of state".
According to Eye Radio, Kiir was among the east African country's leaders who took part in the National Prayer Day at the Dr John Garang mausoleum in the capital Juba last week.
He also prayed for the redemption of the people of South Sudan from the many troubles bestowed on the country.
"I pray that you may not bring condemnation and punishment, but forgiveness and salvation to the people of South Sudan.
"Most merciful God, through my shortcomings, I have sinned against you in thoughts, in words, and deeds by what I have done and what I have failed to do," Kiir was quoted as saying in his prayer.
This came just less than a month after a high ranking military official accused the president of ethnic bias and "unacceptable cycles of violence".
In a resignation letter Lieutenant General Thomas Cirillo Swaka told Kiir: "...you have disgraced yourself" by subjecting the civil war-torn country to ethnic bias and "unacceptable cycles of violence".
Despite a brief truce, hopes for peace have crumbled in the east African country, as its civil war hit the three-year mark last year, with ethnic violence only getting worse and no end in sight.
After gaining its independence from neighbouring Sudan in 2011, the country was plunged into ethnic violence in December 2013 between forces loyal to Kiir and those loyal to his former vice president.
A peace deal signed in August 2015 has failed, and clashes last July between the two forces set off further violence, killing tens of thousands of people and forcing 3.1 million to flee their homes.
An estimated 100 000 people are experiencing famine, and a million others are on the brink of starvation.