22 January 2014 - An emergency regional summit planned for Thursday in Juba as part of efforts to seek a peaceful solution to the South Sudan conflict has been cancelled, UN Radio Miraya reported today.

The summit, organized by the regional grouping Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), has been pushed to the 27 January and will be held in Addis Ababa.

Sudan’s President Omar al Bashir was expected to attend the summit.

Speaking to Radio Miraya, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the meeting had been cancelled due to the African Union summit scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa on Monday.

Mr. Benjamin said the IGAD summit would take place on the side-lines of the AU summit to discuss the ongoing crisis in South Sudan in efforts to reach a peaceful solution.

"They decided that it should better at the AU meeting … instead of just coming here and there is another meeting on the 27th so the meeting will done in Addis,” he said.