Fighting is continuing in South Sudan amidst 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.

Hilde Johnson: “These past 11 days have been a very trying time for South Sudan and for all citizens of this newborn nation. What has happened this last week has, for many of them, brought back the nightmares of the past. The nationhood, painstakingly built over decades of conflict and strife, is at stake.”