US warns risk of ‘all-out civil war’ rising in South Sudan, a country America helped create

WASHINGTON – The top U.S. diplomat for Africa says the risk of an all-out civil war in South Sudan is growing with each additional day of violence.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield says ethnic atrocities are being committed on both sides. She says the government and rebel leaders need to solve their disputes through dialogue, and not fighting.

Three years after midwifing South Sudan’s birth, the United States is desperately trying to prevent the world’s youngest nation from falling apart.

The violence began with a political dispute on Dec. 15 but quickly sparked inter-ethnic attacks. More than 1,000 have been killed and 180,000 driven from their homes.

The fighting is also an embarrassment for the United States, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in South Sudan after guiding it to independence.