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December 18, 2013 (WASHINGTON) - The United States State Department announced that its ambassador in Juba met on Wednesday with South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir amid fears of an outbreak of civil war in the world’s newest nation.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, pictured upon his arrival in the typhoon ravaged city of Tacloban in central Philippines, on December 18, 2013 (AFP /Jay Directo)

"Today, Ambassador Page met with President Kiir in Juba to discuss our concern about the continued violence, increasing death toll, and growing humanitarian challenges," US Deputy State Department Spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters today.

"She raised the arrests of several opposition members and called on the government to ensure their rights are protected in accordance with South Sudan’s constitution and international humanitarian and human rights laws and norms," she added.

Over the weekend clashes erupted in Juba between among units of the presidential guards from competing tribes of Dinka and Nuer. The fighting spread throughout the city which lead to the death of at least 500 people with more hundreds injured.

The violence has forced about 20,000 people to seek refuge at UN facilities in Juba since Sunday.

On Monday, Kiir appeared on TV to declare that his former deputy Riek Machar staged a coup attempt along with other prominent South Sudanese officials who were part of the government and are leading figures in the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Yesterday, the South Sudan government announced that it arrested ten former officials including former ministers and that it seeking the arrest of Machar, suspended SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum, former Unity governor Taban Deng and other ex-ministers.

In an interview with Sudan Tribune, Machar denied planning a coup and accused Kiir of using the clashes to get rid of his political opponents.

On Wednesday, South Sudan’s army acknowledged that some of its units in Jonglei state have defected and managed to take over the state capital of Bor.

The US has urged all its citizens to depart and suspended embassy operations in Juba.

Today the US said that it has evacuated three groups of US citizens from Juba using two Department of Defense C-130 aircraft and a private charter flight.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry today said that his country "believes very strongly that all parties should refrain from any actions that could further escalate the tensions".

"Political differences need to be resolved by peaceful and democratic means, and those have been hard fought for. The government should respect the rule of law, and the people of South Sudan should be able to realize their full potential in peace," Kerry told reporters from the Philippines.

In Washington, the Enough project published a memo it sent to senior US officials calling on it to step in to avoid further escalation in the situation.

Among the things the Obama administration should do is dispatch its special envoy to the Sudans Donald Booth to jump start mediation efforts; support the creation of safe havens and press for unrestricted humanitarian access; work within the U.N. Security Council to draft a presidential statement or resolution on the crisis directing the U.N. mission to create safe havens and take other visible steps towards civilian protection; push for assurances of due process and humane treatment for all political detainees, as well as their ultimate release to join peace efforts.

"Now that President Kiir has offered to sit down with Riek Machar to discuss their differences, the international community needs to double down on diplomatic engagement to facilitate a political resolution to the crisis. With reports of Nuer being targeted for attack, the potential for violent ethnic polarization is very real. South Sudan’s people suffered decades of deadly civil war already, they deserve an engaged international community to help avert another return to violence" Enough’s Sudan policy analyst Akshaya Kumar said.
(ST)