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The United States on Friday ordered a further reduction of U.S. Embassy staff in strife-torn South Sudan and said it would cease to provide consular services for its citizens as of today, even as the country's warring factions were reported to have opened preliminary indirect talks in neighboring Ethiopia.
A travel advisory on the website of the State Department said Washington "ordered a further drawdown of U.S. Embassy personnel because of the deteriorating security situation" in South Sudan, which has been seized with conflict between its main political factions since December.
"We continue to urge U.S. citizens in South Sudan to depart the country," the message said, offering an evacuation flight Friday.
The United States began evacuating U.S. citizens from its embassy in Juba, the capital, and from other parts of the country as the fighting spread in December. The travel advisory on Friday did not go into detail about the number of U.S. Embassy personnel to be withdrawn from Juba. But the U.S. ambassador, Susan Page, said in a message on Twitter: "We are not suspending our operations, we are just minimizing our presence."
After three weeks of fighting between forces loyal to the government of President Salva Kiir and rebels aligned with the former vice president, Riek Machar, efforts have been under way to convene peace talks in Ethiopia.
News reports Friday said representatives of the government and the rebels met for the first time for what were described as preliminary talks in advance of formal negotiations.
U.S. orders evacuations of Americans in South Sudan 01/04/14 [Last modified: Saturday, January 4, 2014 5:29pm]
