Obama: South Sudan leaders must seek to reconcile

Now is the time for the leaders of South Sudan to show courage and leadership and reaffirm their commitment to peace, unity and a better future for their people, US President Barack Obama has stressed. "The United States will remain a steady partner of the South Sudanese people as they seek the security and prosperity they deserve," the President said in a statement released by the White House, late on Thursday. In 2011, millions of South Sudanese voted to forge a new nation founded on the promise of a more peaceful and prosperous future, Obama said. In recent years, against great odds, South Sudan has made great progress toward breaking the cycle of violence that characterized much of its history, he added. "Today that future is at risk," Obama said. "South Sudan stands at the precipice. Recent fighting threatens to plunge South Sudan back into the dark days of its past." But the country's leaders can end the violence and work to resolve tensions peacefully and democratically, he said. "Fighting to settle political scores or to destabilize the government must stop immediately," the President said. "Inflammatory rhetoric and targeted violence must cease. All sides must listen to the wise counsel of their neighbors, commit to dialogue and take immediate steps to urge calm and support reconciliation. South Sudans leaders must recognize that compromise with ones political enemy is difficult, but recovering from unchecked violence and unleashed hatred will prove much harder. " Too much blood has been spilled and too many lives lost to allow South Sudans moment of hope and opportunity to slip from its grasp, Obama said.