Foes sign power-sharing deal as prelude to peace

KHARTOUM: South Sudanese arch-foes signed a final power-sharing deal on Sunday as President Salva Kiir called for unity in a country torn by a civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Mr Kiir and his bitter rival Riek Machar were in neighbouring Sudan to sign the deal, under which the rebel leader is set to return to a unity government as the first of five vice presidents, a correspondent at the signing ceremony said.

The deal, which paves the way to a final peace accord aimed at ending the war in the world’s youngest country, was signed in the presence of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his counterparts from Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti, along with foreign diplomats.

Once a final peace deal is signed, the foes will have three months to form a transitional government which will then hold power for three years.

The talks come as part of a regional push aimed at achieving peace in South Sudan, which plunged into a devastating conflict just two years after its independence from Sudan.

“The agreement we have just signed today must map the end of conflict and war in our country,” Mr Kiir said in a speech in English after signing the deal.

“We should ... rededicate ourselves to unite our people and work for peaceful transfer of power through the ballot boxes rather than through bullets.”

Mr Machar urged the regional east African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is pushing the peace talks, to ensure the deal is implemented.

“I would urge ... IGAD to focus after this on the implementation of the agreement,” he said.

“Somebody said that the devil sometimes is embedded in the implementation.”

South Sudan’s nearly five-year conflict began after Mr Kiir accused his then-vice president, Mr Machar, of plotting a coup against him in 2013.

The two factions agreed on a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal of their forces from urban areas, in the latest talks.