JUBA
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Juba on Friday for talks on the crisis in South Sudan.
Washington's top diplomat was welcomed at the Juba airport by his South Sudanese counterpart Barnaba Marial Benjamin.
Kerry is expected to meet with President Salva Kiir and visit refugees at the U.N. compound at Tomping in Juba.
South Sudan has been shaken by violence since last December, when Kiir accused sacked vice president Riek Machar of leading a failed coup attempt against his regime.
The conflict has already claimed more than 10,000 lives, with the U.N. estimating that some one million South Sudanese have already been displaced by the violence.
On Thursday, Kerry blamed both of South Sudan's warring rivals for what he described as recent "tribal killings" in the violence-prone country.
"The U.S. condemns the brutal attacks against innocent civilians in South Sudan," Kerry told the press conference in Addis Ababa.
According to the U.N., over 200 people were killed and 400 injured in various places of worship – at which they had sought refuge – in Bentiu, capital of Unity State, from 14 to 16 April.
Rebels are accused of targeting civilians based on their ethnicity amid radio broadcasts inciting men to rape women of other ethnic groups.
Some 40 people were killed in an April 17 retaliatory attack on the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) compound in Bor, capital of Jonglei State.
The attack was reportedly staged by protesters, angered by the ethnic violence in Bentiu, who wanted to retaliate by attacking displaced people of the same ethnicity as the rebels.
On Wednesday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navy Pillay and U.N. Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng also criticized recent ethnic killings in South Sudan.
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