South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has fallen ill in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, where he was attending talks to end the conflict in his country, a regional official has told the BBC.
Aides said Mr Kiir’s condition was not serious and denied earlier reports that he had been taken to hospital.
His illness is believed to have delayed a summit of regional leaders called to discuss South Sudan’s conflict.
Mr Kiir, 63, has led the country since its independence from Sudan in 2011.
Mr Kiir had suffered nose bleeds on Wednesday night, said an official from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad), a regional body brokering the South Sudan talks.
Disagreement
Earlier that day Mr Kiir had held talks with South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar in an attempt to end the civil war which has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 1.5 million since December 2013.
South Sudanese officials said Mr Kiir would attend the summit, which would be chaired by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
Other regional leaders, including Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, are in Addis Ababa for the meeting.
Mr Kiir and Mr Machar are under pressure from Igad to form a unity government, but correspondents say the two sides have disagreed over the powers a new prime minister would hold.
Mr Kiir sacked Mr Machar as South Sudan’s deputy president in 2013 and later accused him of plotting a coup.
Mr Machar denied the allegation, but then raised a rebel force to fight government troops.
********
Source: BBC. Jan. 29-2015
Leave a Comment