A South Sudanese politician recently accused of treason denies he was involved in an attemped coup against the government.

Pagan Amum, who's a former secretary-general of the governing SPLM party, was accused along with 12 other politicians of plotting a coup and triggering the fighting that broke out in December.

Four of the accused men, including Mr Amum, went to court, but the case has now been withdrawn.

Thousands of people have already been killed -- and possibly tens of thousands -- with well over a million people forced to flee their homes in the fighting.

Mr Amum told Ajak Deng Chiengkou, from SBS Radio's Dinka program, that he's actually attempting to be a middle-man between government and rebel forces, in order to promote peace.