South Sudan Rivals Still Far From Power-Sharing Pact, UN Says

Salva Kiir, president of South Sudan, signs ceasefire documents as Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is seated next to him in Khartoum on June 27, 2018.

Photographer: Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images

South Sudan’s president and main rebel leader are still far from agreeing on a power-sharing deal, the local United Nations mission said, as the warring sides prepared for a cease-fire in the latest bid to end the more than four-year civil war.

President Salva Kiir and insurgent chief Riek Machar agreed Wednesday on freezing hostilities within 72 hours as they negotiate the terms of what would be their second bid to share power since the war began in December 2013. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and about 4 million forced from their homes during the conflict, with both sides accused of atrocities.

“The different parties remain far apart on some of the critical issues in the bridging document including the comprehensive security arrangement and the governance arrangement,” the head of the UN mission in South Sudan, David Shearer, told reporters Friday in the capital, Juba.