By JASON STRAZIUSO
The United States special envoy to South Sudan Donald Booth speaks to the media, as U.S. Ambassador to South Sudan Susan D. Page, left, listens in Juba, South Sudan, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013. Booth told The Associated Press Tuesday that the country’s warring factions have agreed to attend peace talks in Ethiopia and that the commitment of both sides is “a first but very important step to achieving a cessation of hostilities” and the beginning of negotiations to resolve the crisis in the world’s newest country. (AP Photo/Ali Ngethi)
APTOPIX South Sudan Violence
Displaced women, including foreigners, queue inside the United Nations camp where they have sought shelter in Malakal, South Sudan, Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. When violence broke out in Juba on Dec. 15 life remained calm but tense in Malakal, the capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state, but the violence then radiated outward from Juba and full-fledged war broke out in the town on Christmas Day, as army commanders defected and pledged allegiance to the country’s ousted vice president, in most cases pitting the ethnic group of President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, against ethnic Nuers. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
APTOPIX South Sudan Violence
A United Nations armored vehicle passes displaced people walking towards the U.N. camp where they have sought shelter in Malakal, South Sudan, Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. When violence broke out in Juba on Dec. 15 life remained calm but tense in Malakal, the capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state, but the violence then radiated outward from Juba and full-fledged war broke out in the town on Christmas Day, as army commanders defected and pledged allegiance to the country’s ousted vice president, in most cases pitting the ethnic group of President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, against ethnic Nuers. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Somalia South Sudan Violance
Somali who fled from South Sudan’s fighting get off a plane at Mogadishu’s International airport, Monday, Dec, 30, 2013. The Somali government has evacuated up to 150 Somalis who escaped from the fighting between South Sudanese government troops and rebel fighters. (AP Photo / Farah Abdi Warsameh)
South Sudan Violence
South Sudanese ride a donkey cart on a road near the airport in Malakal, South Sudan Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. When violence broke out in Juba on Dec. 15 life remained calm but tense in Malakal, the capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state, but the violence then radiated outward from Juba and full-fledged war broke out in the town on Christmas Day, as army commanders defected and pledged allegiance to the country’s ousted vice president, in most cases pitting the ethnic group of President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, against ethnic Nuers. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Somalia South Sudan Violance
A Somali man who fled from South Sudan’s fighting stands with his luggage on his arrival at Mogadishu’s International airport, Monday, Dec, 30, 2013. The Somali government has evacuated up to 150 Somalis who escaped from the fighting between South Sudanese government troops and rebel fighters. (AP Photo / Farah Abdi Warsameh)
South Sudan Violence
Men pilot a pirogue along a waterway near the town of Malakal, seen from an airplane over South Sudan Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. When violence broke out in Juba on Dec. 15 life remained calm but tense in Malakal, the capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state, but the violence then radiated outward from Juba and full-fledged war broke out in the town on Christmas Day, as army commanders defected and pledged allegiance to the country’s ousted vice president, in most cases pitting the ethnic group of President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, against ethnic Nuers. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
South Sudan Violence
A United Nations helicopter offloads supplies at the airport, to be taken to a nearby U.N. camp where the displaced have sought shelter, in Malakal, South Sudan Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. When violence broke out in Juba on Dec. 15 life remained calm but tense in Malakal, the capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state, but the violence then radiated outward from Juba and full-fledged war broke out in the town on Christmas Day, as army commanders defected and pledged allegiance to the country’s ousted vice president, in most cases pitting the ethnic group of President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, against ethnic Nuers. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
South Sudan Violence
A river choked with vegetation snakes its way through the landscape, seen from an airplane over South Sudan, Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. When violence broke out in Juba on Dec. 15 life remained calm but tense in Malakal, the capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state, but the violence then radiated outward from Juba and full-fledged war broke out in the town on Christmas Day, as army commanders defected and pledged allegiance to the country’s ousted vice president, in most cases pitting the ethnic group of President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, against ethnic Nuers. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
South Sudan Violence
A displaced Ugandan boy is held by a relative as they wait for an evacuation flight from the United Nations camp where they have sought shelter in Malakal, South Sudan Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. When violence broke out in Juba on Dec. 15 life remained calm but tense in Malakal, the capital of oil-producing Upper Nile state, but the violence then radiated outward from Juba and full-fledged war broke out in the town on Christmas Day, as army commanders defected and pledged allegiance to the country’s ousted vice president, in most cases pitting the ethnic group of President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, against ethnic Nuers. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
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JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Anti-government rebels in South Sudan took control of nearly all of a strategic city on Tuesday even as officials announced that representatives from the government and the rebels agreed to hold talks for the first time.
The announcement that talks would soon take place in neighboring Ethiopia was the first political breakthrough since ethnically-based violence began coursing through South Sudan late on Dec. 15. The violence has killed more than 1,000 people — a number that is believed to be a low estimate — and has seen the country’s two most powerful ethnic groups fight each other.
The United States envoy to the region, Donald Booth, met with President Salva Kiir on Tuesday — their fourth meeting in eight days — and spoke on the phone with the former vice president, Riek Machar, who is accused by the government of having tried to carry out a coup, a charge he denies.
Booth told reporters in Juba that the commitment to meet by the two sides was a “first step but very important step” toward achieving a cessation of hostilities and substantive talks to resolve the underlying political issues that could bring a halt to the violence.
Earlier in the day, heavy fighting erupted in Bor, the contested provincial capital of Jonglei state, which is a short drive from the capital, Juba. Government troops battled renegade forces loyal to Machar including the Nuer tribal militia known as the “White Army,” said military spokesman Col. Philip Aguer.
South Sudan’s government had been warning of a looming battle for Bor, at one point saying 25,000 armed youths were moving toward the city. That number was later lowered but enough forces converged Tuesday to take control of most or all of the city, said a senior U.S. official who insisted on anonymity.
Bor is the town where gunfire hit three United States military aircraft trying to evacuate American citizens on Dec. 21, wounding four U.S. service members. A pro-Machar commander who defected from South Sudan’s military, Peter Gadet, mobilized “elements of the White Army” in a bid to retake the town, according to Aguer. The White Army is so named because of the ash fighters put on their body to protect themselves from insects.
The recapturing of Bor, which is only about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from South Sudan’s capital, Juba, could give Machar an upper hand at the negotiating table. But international officials urged Machar not to move his troops past Bor toward the capital, Juba, said an international official who insisted on anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press.
On Monday Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni warned Machar to report to the negotiating table, or “we shall have to go for him, all of us.” Ugandan troops and several of their attack helicopters are already in South Sudan assisting the military, and international officials do not want to see more countries become involved in the warfare. Because of its long years fighting in Somalia, Uganda has perhaps the most seasoned military in East Africa.
Machar appears to be sending representatives to the negotiating table even though one of his earlier demands — that about a dozen high-level political prisoners being held by the government be released — has not yet been met. Machar has not repeated his demand in recent days that Kiir step down as president, the senior U.S. official said.
South Sudan has been hit by unrest since Dec. 15, when fighting among presidential guards later spiraled into ethnically-based violence across the country. Although an uneasy calm has been restored in the capital, Juba, violence persists in other parts of the oil-producing East African country. Rebel forces still control the oil-producing center of Bentiu, said army spokesman Aguer.
Regional leaders under a bloc known as IGAD last week set Tuesday as the deadline for Kiir and Machar to start peace talks.
Although Kiir insists the latest unrest was sparked by a coup mounted by soldiers loyal to Machar on Dec. 15, this account has been disputed by some officials of the ruling party who say violence broke out when presidential guards from Kiir’s majority Dinka tribe tried to disarm guards from the Nuer ethnic group of Machar.
The U.N. mission in South Sudan said in a statement Tuesday that it was “gravely concerned about mounting evidence of gross violations of international human rights law” across South Sudan since mid-December. “Extra-judicial killings of civilians and captured soldiers have occurred in various parts of the country, as evidenced by the discovery of large numbers of bodies in Juba, as well as the Upper Nile and Jonglei state capitals of Malakal and Bor, respectively,” the statement said.
South Sudan has been plagued by ethnic tension and a power struggle within the ruling party that escalated after Kiir sacked Machar as his deputy earlier this year. Machar has criticized Kiir as a dictator and says he will contest the 2015 presidential election.
The United Nations, South Sudan’s government and other analysts say the dispute is political at its heart, but has since taken on ethnic dimensions. The fighting has displaced up to 180,000, according to the U.N.
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Associated Press reporters Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, and Elias Meseret in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.
