South Sudan set to dominate Obama address to African Union

The crisis in South Sudan is set to dominate President Barack Obama’s speech today when he becomes the first US leader to address the 54-member African Union in Addis Ababa. South Sudan’s 19-month civil war has left thousands of people dead and displaced more than two million. Obama who is winding up a two nation Africa tour in Ethiopia, held a mini summit with leaders from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan to discuss the conflict raging between President Salva Kiir’s government and rebels. An August 17 deadline has been set for the waring factions to reach a peace deal . If they don’t, various options including the imposition of additional sanctions are being considered. President Obama came to Africa partially to connect with the continent of his forefathers, beginning in Kenya where his father was born. But yesterday he met an ancestor of a different kind: “Lucy,” the 3.2 million-year-old partial skeleton discovered in Ethiopia. Obama returns to the US after his African Union address.later today.