South Sudan conflict: Government and rebels sign peace deal in bid to end civil war

World Today

SUDAN-SSUDAN-CONFLICT-TALKSPresident of South Sudan, Salva Kiir signs a final power-sharing deal between South Sudanese arch-foes, on August 5, 2018, in Khartoum. 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. (AFP PHOTO / ASHRAF SHAZLY)

South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir says he is fully committed to implementing the signed peace agreement. Some opposition groups, however, have not signed the deal as they are dissatisfied with the power-sharing arrangement. This leaves many in South Sudan doubtful on whether the deal would end the 5-year civil war in the country.

CGTN’s Patrick Oyet reports from South Sudan’s capital Juba.

The peace deal signed in Khartoum provides for the formation of a unity government headed by president Salva Kiir to run for three years. South Sudan will have five vice presidents including opposition leader Riek Machar. Meanwhile, the country’s Parliament would be expanded from 400 to 550 members to accommodate representatives from all opposition groups.

Juba says this time the peace agreement would easily be implemented

“I believe that the agreement has been signed in an atmosphere that is not intimidated or whatever, so, it will hold, the agreement will hold,” says President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan.

However, a peace deal in 2015 didn’t end the war in South Sudan. When opposition groups returned to Juba, it sparked another circle of violence when clashes broke out in the presidential palace in July 2016

With such memories, many residents of South Sudan’s capital Juba are cautiously hopeful of the news of another peace deal.

“The young people here want peace, we need development, we need education so, politicians should stop the war,” said a local resident.

The war has forced more than 2 hundred thousand South Sudanese people into internally displaced camps protected by the UN peacekeepers. More than 2.5 million South Sudanese nationals have become refugees in South Sudan’s neighboring countries.


South Sudan Peace Deal: Transitional government faces multiple challenges

CGTN’S Wang Guan spoke with Brian Adeba, the deputy director of Policy at The Enough Project, about the latest peace deal that is being signed between the government and main rebel group.