A South Sudanese army general was killed Sunday, while government troops retook the rebel-controlled town of Bor.
The commanding general, whose name has not been released, was killed in a convoy attack on Bor, the BBC reports. The fighting continues as warring parties work to negotiate peace talks planned for Sunday in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
Representatives from both parties are meeting to negotiate a ceasefire and the release of what the rebels called political prisoners. The talks will also focus on giving access to humanitarian aid workers, as well as the cessation of hostilities and negative propaganda.
Bor, the capital city of Jonglei state, has been the backdrop to some of the heaviest fighting between President Salva Kiir’s government troops and former Vice President Riek Machar’s rebels. The political conflict began on Dec. 15 after Kiir ousted Machar and accused him of attempting a coup, but fighting has since taken on ethnic undertones.
Amid the violence, almost 200,000 people have fled their homes and at least 1,000 people have been killed. South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, seceded from Sudan in 2011 after decades of bloodshed.
[BBC]