By Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho JUBA/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – South Sudan’s government and rebels finally began talks to end weeks of bloodletting on Friday after days of delay as the United States ordered out more of its embassy staff. However, there was no face-to-face meeting, and fighting was reported near the key town of Bor, suggesting that a halt to clashes between President Salva Kiir’s SPLA government forces and rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar is still a long way off. “Both delegations are meeting the mediators separately,” said Dina Mufti, a spokesman for Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry. “We hope to bring both sides into face-to-face talks soon.” Meanwhile the SPLA said its troops were fighting rebels 24 km (14 miles) south of rebel-controlled Bor, the capital of the vast Jonglei state and site of an ethnic massacre in 1991.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-embassy-says-evacuating-more-staff-south-sudan-075928959.html

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