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The UN mission, which oversees an estimated 18,000 peacekeepers in South Sudan, was engaging in intense shuttle diplomacy to try and prevent a return to civil war, Mr Haysom added.

There has been lots of shuttle diplomacy and symbolism since it won the general election in the summer.

Months of shuttle diplomacy by the US envoy Amos Hochstein - building on already established UN Security Resolutions on Israel and Hezbollah - have come to nothing.

Negotiations have always been indirect, shuttle diplomacy - Hamas representatives do not talk directly to Israel or the US.

But the fact that he remains unyielding despite four months of Holguín’s shuttle diplomacy doesn’t bode well for a talks restart.