South Sudan forms unity government: presidential decree

South Sudan President Salva Kiir has named his transitional unity government, sharing power with ex-rebels in a key step in a long-delayed peace process, a decree read out Friday said.

Under terms of an August 2015 peace deal, the 30 ministerial posts are split between Kiir, former rebel chief turned first vice president Riek Machar, opposition and other parties.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the naming of the ministers was an "important milestone" in the peace process, urging the parties "to cease immediately all hostilities".

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (right) delivers a statement as former rebel leader and new vice-president Riek Machar listens during a ceremony at the Presidential House in Juba ©Charles Lomodong (AFP/File)

Kiir's decree "for the appointment of ministers of the transitional government of national unity" -- which is to remain in place until October 2018 -- was broadcast on government radio on Friday morning.

Machar returned to the capital Juba on Tuesday and was immediately sworn into the post of vice president -- a position he was sacked from five months before war broke out.

Fighting erupted in December 2013 when Kiir accused Machar of plotting a coup, claims he always denied.

The conflict, which has torn open ethnic divisions, has been characterised by horrific rights abuses, including gang rapes, the wholesale burning of villages and cannibalism.

- 'Children are dying' -

Kiir loyalists remain in key positions, with Kuol Manyang staying on as defence minister and David Deng Athorbei as finance minster with the job of rebuilding an economy left in ruins by more than two years of war.

The all-important petroleum portfolio was handed to Dak Duop Bichok.

The foreign ministry goes to Deng Alor, a post he held under a united Sudan, before South Sudan won its independence in 2011.

Alor belongs to a group of influential politicians known as the "former detainees", who were jailed at the outbreak of fighting but later released following regional pressure.

Opposition leader and outspoken government critic Lam Akol becomes minister for agriculture and food security -- a crucial job in a country where five million are in need of aid, and some areas are on the brink of famine.

Ensuring they work together in a unity government, and that the thousands of rival armed forces now in separate camps inside the capital keep their guns quiet, will be a major challenge.

Both sides remain deeply suspicious, and fighting continues with multiple militia forces unleashed who now pay no heed to either Kiir or Machar.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than two million driven from their homes in the conflict, which has reignited ethnic divisions and been characterised by gross human rights abuses.

- Political prisoners -

Dozens of political prisoners remain in detention, although a former regional governor and a university professor held for months were released this week, Amnesty International said Friday.

Both Joseph Bakosoro, former governor of Western Equatoria state, and Professor Leonzio Angole Onek from Juba University, were arrested in December by the widely-feared National Security Service (NSS).

Speaking after he was released, Bakasoro said he hoped the new government would work towards peace.

"I hope those who will be in the government will do the right thing -- not for themselves, but for the people of this country," he told reporters.

"The common citizens are the ones suffering, women are suffering, children are dying."

Amnesty said the release of the two men "represents a mere fraction of people being detained by NSS and other security forces such as the military" and called for 33 other prisoners to be charged or released.

"Some have been beaten, especially during interrogation or as a form of punishment," Amnesty added, saying their treatment may "amount to torture".

South Sudan ©AFP (AFP)

Under terms of an August 2015 South Sudan peace deal, 30 ministerial posts are to be split between President Salva Kiir, former rebel chief turned first vice president Riek Machar, opposition and other parties ©Albert Gonzalez Farran (AFP)

The conflict in South Sudan, which has torn open ethnic divisions, has been characterised by horrific rights abuses, including gang rapes, the wholesale burning of villages and cannibalism ©Albert Gonzalez Farran (AFP/File)