South Sudan’s government has agreed at a meeting of East African leaders to end hostilities against rebels accused of trying to overthrow the young country’s regime, but the ceasefire was quickly thrown into doubt because the head of the rebellion was not invited.

South Sudan’s government has agreed to end hostilities, regional African leaders say.

More than 120,000 people have been displaced by continuing violence in South Sudan, the United Nations says, and about half are sheltering at UN compounds.

A militant Islamist movement fled from rapidly advancing government forces into a rugged, forested corner of Somalia, as the prime minister offered an amnesty if they surrendered.

Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers have entered Kismayo, the last major stronghold of a militant Islamic movement, residents said today.

The EU will work closely with the seven nations of the Horn of Africa to defuse regional conflicts and prevent them spreading to other parts of Africa and the Middle East, the union’s development commissioner said in Brussels today.

SOMALIA’S powerful Islamists yesterday said they would not attend peace talks with the interim government until Ethiopian troops left their soil.

Seven African leaders today reviewed efforts to restore peace in Somalia and Uganda and attempts to resolve a festering border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia.