NAIROBI, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Thursday called on South Sudanese leaders to immediately cease hostilities and embrace dialogue to resolve the conflict amid a deteriorating security situation in the country.

Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi called on the parties to the conflict in South Sudan to adhere to the peace agreements under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development's Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan to prevent the escalation of hostilities.

"We urge all parties in South Sudan to exercise utmost restraint, cease hostilities, and uphold the revitalized peace agreement in the best interest of millions of their people," said Mudavadi, who is also the cabinet secretary for foreign and diaspora affairs of Kenya.

The statement came after South Sudanese First Vice President Riek Machar was placed under house arrest on Wednesday night after an armed convoy led by top security officials entered his residence in Juba, the country's capital, and disarmed his bodyguards.

The impasse has raised concerns that the world's youngest country could slide back into conflict after emerging from a civil war that left thousands dead and others displaced.

The international community has condemned the current standoff, as intensive diplomatic efforts are underway to broker a peaceful solution.

South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, signed a peace deal in 2018 that ended a civil war between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and Machar. Nearly 400,000 people died in the civil war.

Relations between Kiir and Machar, who have dominated South Sudan's politics for decades, remain strained. The clashes and latest political tensions between the two leaders have unsettled many citizens and the international community. Enditem

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