Nairobi, December 28 (RHC)-- Fighting is continuing in South Sudan amid mediation efforts by African countries.  The leaders of Ethiopia and Kenya are in the capital Juba in a bid to end fighting between government forces and rebels loyal to the country’s ousted former vice president.

The United Nations says the violence has claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced tens of thousands more.  Rebels have now captured half of the capital in South Sudan’s main oil producing state, the Upper Nile.  Hilde Johnson, head of the U.N. mission in South Sudan, said the country is facing its worst crisis since gaining independence from Sudan two years ago.