South Sudan’s government split after a dispute between President Salva Kiir and Machar erupted into conflict in December. East African regional group IGAD has been seeking to broker an accord to end the violence, which has left thousands of people dead and forced more than 1.8 million to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

Fighting flared again earlier this week, with a rebel attack near oilfields north of Bentiu, according to the government. The clashes show that the rebel forces have “yet to abandon the option of war,” even though “significant progress” was made in the latest talks this month, IGAD said.

The latest fighting began three days ago with government attacks, Lul Ruai Koang, a spokesman for the rebel army, said by phone yesterday from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. He said rebels repulsed the advance and are “currently in control of Bentiu.”

Final Warning

There may have been a “high number” of casualties as the insurgents unsuccessfully attacked Bentiu, South Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth told reporters today in Addis Ababa. The government will go on the offensive if attacked again by rebels who’ve opted for war, he said.

“We are here giving the final warning,” Lueth said. “Whatever efforts they make again, we will not tolerate it, we will give them hot pursuit wherever they go, even if they enter another country.”

As part of the effort to agree on a transitional administration, the government will allow a rebel nominee for a new prime ministerial position to stand for election at the end of a proposed 36-month interim period, Lueth said.

A “breakthrough” has been made in talks as Machar and Kiir have agreed to meet at a regional leaders’ summit that could be held this week to discuss “critical issues of sharing power in the top executive” during a transition, IGAD’s chief envoy Seyoum Mesfin said today.

“They will be the ones to negotiate what would be the power that they would share, or define the duties and obligations and powers of the president, the vice president, of the prime minister and deputy prime ministers, or even shatter this structure,” he told reporters in Addis Ababa.

The government won’t continue with negotiations while rebels pursue a military solution, Lueth said. “If rebels believe that only way to bring peace to South Sudan is through war then we can do it,” he said.