No breakthrough came on the first day of talks amid mounting pressure from African and Western powers on South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and the rebel leader, former Vice President Riek Machar, to end the conflict.
Mediators met with representatives of both delegations to try to pin down the issues and set out a framework for the talks, said the head of an eastern African trade bloc mediating the talks.
The proxy talks, which involve negotiators from other African nations, continued Saturday morning and "things are on track," said Mahboub Maalim, executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.
Key issues at the negotiating table will be the cessation of hostilities and the commencement of political dialogue, he said.
"Things are going in the right direction," he said, adding that it was positive that the two sides had been willing to send delegations so quickly to Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, for the talks.
But even as the two sides' teams negotiate, fighting continues in South Sudan, where three weeks of violence has claimed more than 1,000 lives and forced about 200,000 people from their homes.
The U.S. State Department further reduced its presence in South Sudan on Friday amid concern over the deteriorating security situation.
About 20 U.S. Embassy staff members were flown out of the capital, Juba, aboard a C-130 aircraft manned by U.S. Marines, according to the Defense Department. Other U.S. citizens in the country have been urged to leave.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters Friday that "even as we draw down our personnel, we continue to be engaged in and strongly support regional and international efforts to bring the violence to an end."
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