The order was announced on Monday by presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny.
Advertisement
Machar said his loyalists had been bombarded on July 11 by Kiir’s forces, which he said showed the president was “not interested in peace”.
The announcement of a ceasefire came as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on the Security Council to impose an “immediate arms embargo” on the world’s youngest independent state.
“The safety of Germans, employees of German organizations overseas as well as our own embassy staff has the highest priority”, the foreign office said, adding that Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had spoken with his counterpart in South Sudan, Deng Alor, on Sunday evening asking that the authorities do everything to ensure the safety of German nationals and end the conflict.
In the meantime, countries which have contributed peacekeepers should “stand their ground”, Ban said.
Any South Africans trapped in South Sudan have been urged to contact the South African embassy in Juba for assistance in being able to leave the country. Aid workers said rounds had landed inside the United Nations camp, wounding some civilians.
But there wasn’t even an independence honeymoon period for this nation, and now there are fears of another full-blown civil war.
At least 272 people have been killed in the recent violence, a health ministry source told the Reuters news agency early on Sunday. Salva Kiir, South Sudan President, and James Wani Igga, Vice president during a press conference at Presidential palace in Juba, South Sudan, after fighting started erupted when a group of unidentified soldiers tried to enter the palace. Vice President Riek Machar followed up by declaring a cease-fire would soon be in place on his side.
The violence escalated dramatically on Friday (8/7), leading to reports of several hundred casualties.
New fighting began after a unit of loyalist forces clashed with the bodyguards of former rebel leader and current vice president Riek Machar. On Monday, the celebration marking the fifth anniversary of independence has been cancelled.
South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011 but its short history has been marred by civil war.
AFP reported that Kiir ordered a ceasefire on Monday night but there was no immediate response from Machar.
As fighting raged into 2015, tens of thousands of people were reported killed, and an estimated 2 million people fled their homes. Many starved to death.
Advertisement
But the relationship between the perennial rivals remains brittle and experts say the failure to implement key elements of the peace deal, such as integrating their rival forces, has increased the chance of further fighting.
