JUBA, July 11 (Reuters) - South Sudan's president ordered a ceasefire by his SPLA army on Monday and said he remained ready to work with his rival Vice President Riek Machar, after heavy fighting in the capital that has threatened to plunge the nation back into civil war.
"The situation is actually calm as from now. All of the commanders of the SPLA were ordered by the president ... on this declaration of ceasefire," presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told Reuters by telephone, adding that any member of Machar's SPLA-IO force who surrendered must be protected.
(Writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Andrew Roche)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
