REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, NAIROBI -- Warring rivals in South Sudan missed a key deadline Saturday to forge a unity government, with rebels rejecting President Salva Kiir's creation of new regional states as fighting continues.

The rivals were supposed to form a government by January 22, but rebels say Kiir's near tripling of the number of regional states in December undermines a fundamental pillar of an August power-sharing deal to end two years of civil war.

Rebel spokesman Mabior Garang criticised "anti-peace hardliners within the government" and said they would base negotiations on the old system of 10 states and not the current 28.

Garang however said rebels are "fully committed to peace and shall not entertain a return to war."

Key international backers -- the so-called Troika, made up of key donors Britain, Norway and United States, as well as the European Union -- this week said the talks were "deadlocked".

Amid mounting frustration, they cut payment of hotel bills for rebel delegates in Juba.

During previous peace talks mostly held in Ethiopia, delegates have run up vast hotel and bar bills as they agreed -- and then swiftly broke -- a string of ceasefire deals.

Civil war began in December 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that have split the poverty-stricken country along ethnic lines.

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