NAIROBI, kenya — The U.S. State Department on Friday said it is evacuating additional American Embassy personnel from South Sudan and urged all U.S. citizens to leave the country as well, even as opposing factions began talks in neighboring Ethiopia aimed at stopping a budding civil war.
The U.S. military evacuated about 20 U.S. citizens Friday as part of the embassy drawdown in Juba, said Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
The embassy will stop providing consular services for any remaining American citizens by Saturday, the State Department said.
The drawdown of embassy personnel suggests that U.S. diplomats are concerned about the prospects for a cease-fire and a peace deal between loyalists of President Salva Kiir and backers of former vice president Riek Machar. Fighting between the two sides has triggered spasms of ethnic bloodletting.
