Extension to South Sudan peace deal bid

Regional ministers have approved a six-month extension of the looming deadline for South Sudan’s rival leaders to form a unit y government, Ethiopia has said.

Ethiopia’ s government announced the approvali na Facebook post on Wednesday after a meeting of the council of East African ministers.

South Sudan had faced a 12 May deadline for opposition leader Riek Machar to return to the country and take up again as president Salva Kiir’s deputy.

It is the crucial next step in a fragile peace deal to end a five -year civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people.