South Sudan’s government delegation and rebels have started face-to-face talks in neighboring Ethiopia.

South Sudan’s government delegation and rebels have started face-to-face talks in neighboring Ethiopia, according to Reuters.

Talks aimed at ending the bloodshed that erupted in mid-December and quickly spread to different areas of the world’s newest country, the two sides said on Tuesday.

The tribal and political unrest that has lasted for three weeks so far has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 200,000 people, with the UN peacekeeping force in the country now doubled.