South Sudan’s government and rebels said they were optimistic they could negotiate an end to a three-week-old conflict that the United Nations says has killed thousands of people and forced 200,000 to flee their homes. Talks resume today in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to end the violence that has shaken the world’s newest nation. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said yesterday he was “ready to directly engage” the warring parties to end fighting between President Salva Kiir’s government and insurgents loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar . “We believe we can achieve full reconciliation,” the rebels’ chief negotiator, Taban Deng Gai, said at a press conference in Addis Ababa. South Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei said: “We have come for peace and we will go back to our people with peace.” Conflict broke out on Dec. 15 after Kiir accused Machar of trying to stage a coup, […]