The world’s newest country faces sanctions if agreement is not reached by Saturday.

The logjams outnumber the breakthroughs in South Sudan’s short and troubled history.

The death toll from six years of civil war approaches 400 000.

Sticking point now is dividing the country between President Salva Kiir’s Dinka and the Nuer of rebel leader and former deputy president Riek Machar.

Kiir has made concessions, reducing his proposed 32 states to 10.

Machar says Kiir is still trying to grab the lion’s share by setting up special administrative areas to govern the oil-rich portions that could ensure prosperity for the country once peace is achieved.

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The ceasefire signed in Addis Ababa enjoins all sides to freeze their positions at midnight on Christmas Eve and to cease all activities that could provoke further violence. It also commits the parties to freeing prisoners of war and releasing abducted women and children.

Previous peace deals between President Salva Kiir’s Dinka tribe and the Nuer of rebel leader Riek  Machar, currently exiled in South Africa, have come apart.

If this one holds it could lead to elections in the country that became Africa’s youngest when it split from Sudan six years ago.

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Tribal clashes are blamed for the attack from South Sudan.

Ethiopia’s Communications Minister Getachew Reda says the attackers are members of South Sudan’s Murle tribe.

The victims are most from the Nuer population.

Ethiopia accommodates thousands of South Sudanese refugees.

They fled the violence that began three years ago when President Salva Kiir sacked his deputy Riek Machar, accusing him of plotting a coup.

Reda says the weekend  attackers are not thought to have any links to the South Sudanese government or rebels.

There a history of conflict in Ethiopia’s Gambella province, where the raid took place.

This is between the Nuer, Machar’s ethnic group,

and the Murle, who they accuse of cattle rustling and stealing children to raise as their own.

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His message to Machar is put down your guns and come home.

The conflict that has torn South Sudan started with a political spat between President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, the man he fired as his deputy.

It’s become an ethnic war between Kiir’s Dinka and the Nuer who include the rebel leader in their tribe.

Speaking at the independence celebrations today Kiir says he’ll call for peace even if Machar continues to attack government forces.

At least three turns at the peace table have come to nought.

Both sides are accused to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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