South Sudan battles rage amid talks

South Sudan's government and rebels are locked in fierce battles across the country, as peace talks taking place in neighbouring Ethiopia appear to flounder.

A rebel spokesman indicated that there would be no imminent truce in the country unless the government freed a group of alleged coup plotters detained after the fighting began more than three weeks ago, a demand again rejected by Juba.

Military officials from both sides, meanwhile, said that a major battle was still raging for control of Bor, capital of Jonglei State and situated just north of the capital Juba.

Fighting was also taking place in the oil-producing Upper Nile State, while the rebels said more troops previously based in Juba had defected from the government side and could launch an assault on the capital.

'Our forces are co-ordinating themselves,' rebel spokesman Moses Ruai Lat said, adding that anti-government fighters were preparing to strike at Juba and Malakal, capital of Upper Nile State.

The spokesman for the national army, Philip Aguer, confirmed fighting was in progress around Bor.

An AFP reporter reached the town of Minkammen, 25km south of Bor, and said the area was flooded with fleeing civilians and that the rumble of heavy artillery fire could be heard in the distance.

'People fleeing the fighting around Bor keep coming by boat every day, we are doing our best to support them,' said John Parach, a local government relief co-ordinator.

The unrest began on December 15 as a clash between army units loyal to South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and those loyal to ex-vice president Riek Machar, and has escalated into war between government troops and a loose alliance of ethnic militia forces and mutinous army commanders.

Thousands of people have already been killed, aid workers say, while more than 200,000 have fled their homes - many of them seeking protection from overstretched UN peacekeepers amid a wave of ethnic violence pitting members of Kiir's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer tribe.

The two sides have been holding peace talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, but the rebel delegation signalled the chances of an immediate truce was slim because the anti-government side wanted its detained allies freed by Juba.