South Sudan army (SPLA) on Friday said it is unaware of the media reports quoting residents and local officials, saying there have been clashes between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those loyal to his former deputy, Riek Machar, in Morobo county.

Opposition officials also told Sudan Tribune that the town of Morobo actually felt under the full control of the SPLA-IO forces and their local allies on Friday.

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Colombia’s leftwing ELN rebels have said they are ready to start formal peace talks with the government and resolve issues that have so far stymied the negotiations announced in March.

The ELN’s announcement comes two days after Colombia’s center-right government and the Marxist Farc rebel group signed a peace deal to end a half-century war that killed a quarter of a million people and once took the Andean country to the brink of collapse.

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