Western nations have also sought to cool tempers. In a joint statement Thursday, the embassies of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands and Norway in South Sudan, as well as the European Union delegation urged Kiir to reverse Machar’s arrest and called for a ceasefire between armed groups.
In a sign of the fragile situation in the country, the US embassy has urged Americans to flee South Sudan while they still can. Similar advice was issued by Britain.
The African Union, which comprises 55 African nations, has said it will deploy a delegation to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, “to de-escalate the situation.”
Separately, an envoy of William Ruto, the president of neighboring Kenya, arrived in Juba Friday and held talks with Kiir.
“I am encouraged by the possibility of a resolution to the conflict,” Raila Odinga said after the meeting, adding he would brief East African leaders on “a possible roadmap to sustainable peace and stability.”
‘A country on the edge’
In October, the World Bank made a bleak assessment of the situation.
Violence, weak management of public resources and “political contestation” have “intensified existing humanitarian needs,” it said.
And in a report in December, it said that more than two-thirds of the population in the oil-rich nation were extremely poor, living on less than $2.15 per day.
Despite its economic troubles, South Sudan harbors more than half a million refugees from war-torn neighbors Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, based on data from the UN Refugee Agency.
On Friday, the UN described South Sudan as “a country on the edge,” saying it faced “multiple crises at once.”
“South Sudan may have fallen off the world’s radar … but we cannot let the situation fall over the abyss,” Guterres said.