South Sudan's Kiir to skip Nairobi crisis talks with African leaders

[December 27, 2013]  NAIROBI (Reuters) — South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has not gone to Kenyan capital Nairobi to attend a meeting of African leaders trying to mediate an end to nearly two weeks of fighting that has killed thousands, a Kenyan official said.

"Kiir is not coming because (Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam) Desalegn and (Kenyan President Uhuru) Kenyatta met him yesterday in Juba. Everything they needed to discuss was discussed," said a State House official in Nairobi.

Two Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) delegations have traveled to Juba since violence erupted on December 15 in the world's newest state but they have not managed to get Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar to meet.

(Reporting by Richard Lough; writing Drazen Jorgic; editing by Louise Ireland)

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