FILE PHOTO: South Sudan's President Salva Kiir (R) talks to South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar as they sign a cease fire and power sharing agreement with in Khartoum, Sudan August 5, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar signed a peace agreement on Wednesday in the margins of a regional summit in Ethiopia.
South Sudan plunged into warfare two years after gaining independence from Sudan in 2011 when a political dispute between Kiir and Machar exploded into military confrontation.
A previous peace deal signed in 2015 fell apart a year later after clashes broke out between government forces and rebels, forcing Machar to leave Juba.
The new agreement, mediated by Sudan, reinstates Machar, a former vice-president, to his former role.
The United States, Britain and Norway, known as the Troika which oversees peace efforts, welcomed the signature of the deal by Kiir, Machar and other groups.
“We hope discussions will remain open to those who are not yet convinced of the sustainability of this agreement,” they said in a statement. “We must seize this broader regional momentum to secure peace for the people of South Sudan.”
Reporting by Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa and Denis Dumo in Juba, Writing by Ingrid Melander, Editing by Angus MacSwan
Newer news items:
- UN: South Sudan deal offers hope, but trust ‘still lacking’ between parties - 14/09/2018
- South Sudan monitoring body probes attacks on SPLM-IO in Yei River - 13/09/2018
- New Primate of South Sudan: ‘Peace is deeper than a piece of paper’ - 13/09/2018
- Weariness and low expectations greet latest S.Sudan deal - 13/09/2018
- Hope, scepticism as warring South Sudan leaders sign peace deal - 13/09/2018
Older news items:
- South Sudan pledges to guard against oil pollution - 12/09/2018
- China Poised To Dominate South Sudan’s Oil Industry - 12/09/2018
- In South Sudan, Some Children Work in Mines to Survive - 12/09/2018
- South Sudan accuses Kenyan cattle rustlers of killing 19 herders - 11/09/2018
- ICRC: Cease-Fire in South Sudan Appears to Be Holding - 10/09/2018
Popular news items:
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 - Read 19253 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - Bikya Masr - 01/04/2012 - Read 15346 times
- Former Lost Boy Gives Back to South Sudan - Care2.com (blog) - 31/05/2012 - Read 14577 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 - Read 14169 times
- With prisons full, South Sudan to introduce mobile courts to clear backlog of ... - Washington Post - 11/10/2012 - Read 11724 times
