The United Nations says it is concerned about plans to hold elections in war-torn South Sudan next year.
The South Sudan government last week announced it would go ahead with the polls in mid 2018, despite a bloody civil war that has lasted more than three years.
The UN Special Envoy to the African Union, Haile Menkerios, says the situation in South Sudan is currently not conducive for the holding of elections as announced by the government.
Speaking at a joint Security Council meeting between the UN and the African Union in Addis Ababa, Mr Menkerios instead urged the warring parties to focus on implementing a peace deal signed two years ago.
The agreement, which established a transitional government, has however failed to hold. Instead, fighting has spread into parts of South Sudan that were previously largely peaceful.
The UN says more than four million people have been displaced both internally and externally since fighting broke out in December 2013.(BBC)