South Sudan's President Salva Kiir on Thursday held consultations with a view to setting up a new government, two days after firing his entire cabinet, a government official said.
.
"The president wants to have time to consult before coming out with the government," Mayen Makol, spokesman at the foreign affairs ministry, told AFP.
.
He declined to say how long the consultations would last.
.
"It could be three days, four days, a week," he said, adding that in the meantime ministries are being run by senior civil servants.
.
In a series of decrees signed Tuesday evening Kiir sacked his 28 ministers and their deputies as well as 17 police brigadiers and he announced his next government would consist of only 19 ministries.
.
A joint statement Thursday from the African Union, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Britain and the United States urged all parties in South Sudan "to take all measures necessary to maintain calm and prevent violence."