ADDIS ABABA: South Sudan’s rival forces have made little if any progress at talks on ending the country’s civil war, the government has warned, despite intense international pressure for a deal ahead of an Aug. 17 deadline.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in almost 20 months of war, which has been marked by widespread atrocities on both sides.

Mediators say President Salva Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar are now due to meet in Ethiopia in a bid to stave of sanction threats before the deadline expires on Monday, although delegates appeared gloomy for a deal.

“There are some outstanding areas where, if we don’t agree, we don’t need to deceive ourselves and talk of peace,” Information Minister Michael Makuei told reporters late Wednesday, after a week of talks in Addis Ababa.

South Sudan’s civil war began in December 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that has split the poverty-stricken, landlocked country along ethnic lines.

The war has been characterised by ethnic massacres and rape. Recent attacks have included castration, rape and tying children together before slitting their throats.

Key issues of disagreement include a power-sharing proposal between the government and rebels, part of a peace plan put forward by the regional eight-nation bloc IGAD, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, as well as the United Nations, African Union, China and the “troika” of Britain, Norway and the US.