World steps up efforts over civil war fears

World leaders stepped up efforts yesterday to pull South Sudan back from the brink of all-out civil war, as fighting raged across the country including in a key oil-producing region.
Special envoys from the United States and Nigeria were flying into the capital Juba, following on from a mission by foreign ministers from east Africa and the Horn and after an appeal for an end to the violence from United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.
Fighting has been raging in South Sudan for a week, after President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of attempting a coup. Machar has denied this, and has accused Kiir of carrying out a vicious purge of his rivals.
The fighting has left hundreds dead and sent tens of thousands of people fleeing for protection in UN bases or to safer areas of the country, which only won independence from Sudan in 2011 but has been blighted by ethnic divisions, corruption and poverty.
The fighting has both ethnic and political dimensions, as troops loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battle forces backing Machar, a Nuer.
Foreign governments, including those of the US, Britain, Uganda and Kenya, have been organising special evacuation flights to pull out their nationals. On Saturday four US servicemen were wounded when their planes were fired at in a rebel-held area.
The attack underlined the increasingly dangerous situation in South Sudan, where at least one UN base has also come under attack in recent days -- with the deaths of two Indian peacekeepers and possibly dozens of civilians.
President Barack Obama warned against continued fighting. "Any effort to seize power through the use of military force will result in the end of longstanding support from the United States and the international community," the White House said.
South Sudan's government meanwhile acknowledged that much of Unity State, the country's main oil-producing area, was in the hands of the rebels.
A local official in Bentiu -- the rebel-held capital of Unity State -- said the area was littered with bodies following the fall of the town. Tens of thousands of South Sudanese have fled their homes amid warnings the nation was on the brink of all-out civil war.