South Sudan general killed in fighting, rebels say

Rebels in South Sudan said Sunday they had killed an army general during fighting near the town of Bor, at the same time direct negotiations between warring factions began in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Rebel spokesman Moses Ruai said the general, Lual Mayok, was killed along with his deputy in an ambush on Friday, and said he was in charge of government troops trying to recapture Bor, capital of Jonglei state, situated 130 miles north of the capital Juba.

"Our forces are well organized. They are not just hit-and-run. The next target is now Juba, but I cannot tell you exactly when they will attack Juba, but they are heading there," the rebel spokesman said.

South Sudan's Defense Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk dismissed the claim, saying there was no general of that name in the country's armed forces.

"I have no information of any general killed," he told AFP.

Earlier Sunday, the army's spokesman also said government troops were advancing on Bor, asserting it was a "matter of time" before the town fell back into government hands.

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the conflicting claims, which came as the two sides opened formal negotiations in Addis Ababa.

The conflict in South Sudan erupted on Dec. 15, pitting army units loyal to President Salva Kiir against a loose alliance of ethnic militia forces and mutinous army commanders nominally headed by Riek Machar, a former vice president who was sacked last July.

Kiir accuses Machar of an attempted coup. Machar denies the accusation, but forces loyal to him now control two state capitals, including the town of Bor.

United States Secretary of State John Kerry urged the two sides not to use the talks Sunday as a "gimmick" to buy time.

"Negotiations have to be serious, they cannot be a delay, (a) gimmick in order to continue the fighting and try to find advantage on the ground at the expense of the people of South Sudan," Kerry told reporters while on a visit to Jerusalem on Sunday.

Ethiopian government spokesman Getachew Reda said Sunday that IGAD, the East African regional bloc brokering the talks, was trying to convince South Sudan's government to release 11 detainees, many of them former senior government officials.

Reda said it was important "for the government of South Sudan to go the extra mile as a goodwill gesture."

But the spokesman for South Sudan's government delegation, Information Minister Michael Makuei, rejected the proposal, instead blaming former Vice President Machar of starting the fighting with an attempted coup.

"His attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government is an established fact," Makuei said.

At least 1,000 people have been killed, and 200,000 displaced since the fighting began, in what has already been described as a humanitarian crisis. 

Al Jazeera and wire services