Rebels damage oil facilities

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP):

Rebels badly damaged petroleum facilities in an oil-producing state and must answer for the destruction, a South Sudanese government official said yesterday.

Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said the government is now in full control of Unity State after its forces took over the capital, Bentiu, from forces loyal to former vice-president Riek Machar on Friday.

The crisis in South Sudan, the youngest country in the world, started with tension after President Salva Kiir dismissed Machar and other high-ranking politicians from Cabinet in July.

The tension culminated in fighting that broke out on December 15 and descended into ethnic attacks.

Kiir, who is an ethnic Dinka, accused a former vice-president, who is an ethnic Nuer, of trying to overthrow the government. Machar denies the accusation, and accuses the government of crushing political opponents.

mass displacement

Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese have been displaced in the nearly month-long conflict. The United Nations has said that more than 1,000 people are believed to have been killed.

The United States special envoy to South Sudan, Donald Booth, said yesterday that mediators in peace talks for South Sudan being held in Ethiopia had made some progress trying to secure a ceasefire agreement between the rebels and government.

Booth said mediators conferred with Machar on Saturday for three hours in efforts to get him to sign an agreement to end hostilities.