The conflict in South Sudan has left an estimated 2.5 million people facing severe food shortages
Mediators in peace talks between South Sudan's government and rebels have said both sides' failure to reach a deal is morally and politically "unacceptable".
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, the chair of a regional body overseeing the talks, said South Sudan's leaders had failed its people.
Their inaction, he said, would prolong suffering and a senseless war.
The 14-month conflict in South Sudan has displaced more than a million people and killed tens of thousands.
The government, led by President Salva Kiir, and the rebels, led by Riek Machar, missed Thursday's deadline for reaching a deal in talks in Ethiopia, overseen by the East African regional body, Igad.
Further talks on Friday also ended without agreement.
Prime Minister Hailemariam's statement - which is unusually direct by diplomatic standards - reveals the international frustration with South Sudan's leaders.
He says the regional body Igad and others should now come up with a "comprehensive solution" to South Sudan's crisis, one which presumably will take a different form to the deal on the table which Salva Kiir and Riek Machar have been unable to agree on.
How can the outside world impose this, though? Will sanctions - which many in South Sudan reject - be imposed? And how can outsiders make peace if South Sudan's own leaders are not ready to do so?
Meanwhile, an African Union report into alleged human rights abuses in South Sudan recommended that Mr Kiir and Mr Machar be barred from any transitional government, according to a leaked draft from October seen by Reuters news agency.
The final report was meant to have been published in January, but AU heads of state postponed the publication to avoid obstructing peace talks.
Sanctions threat
Mr Hailemariam, the Igad chairman, said he regretted that "the talks did not produce the necessary breakthrough".
In an open letter addressed to the people of South Sudan, he attacked leaders on both sides for sticking to entrenched positions.
Sudanese government soldiers have been battling rebels for control of oil-rich districts
More than a million people have been displaced by the fighting
"The consequences of inaction are the continued suffering of you, the people of South Sudan, and the prolonging of a senseless war in your country. This is unacceptable, both morally and politically," he said.
"Continuing a war flagrantly disregards the interests of you, the people. It is an abdication of the most sacred duty leaders have to you, their people: to deliver peace, prosperity and stability."
The statement said mediators were hopeful that the "promise of peace will be fulfilled in the near future" - but did not say whether further talks were planned.
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