South Sudan’s president and rebel chief signed a ceasefire deal on Friday vowing to end nearly five months of civil war, with the US urging both sides to “swiftly” implement their promises.
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel boss Riek Machar, who shook hands and then prayed together, “agreed that immediately all hostile activities will stop within 24 hours from the signing of this agreement,” East African regional bloc IGAD head mediator Seyoum Mesfin said.
“Fighting will stop,” he added.
Kiir, explaining his olive branch to his bitter rival, told reporters that as leader he had in the past accepted compromises and had “been in a position to make peace with everybody.”
Machar, who swapped his military fatigues for a business suit, said he was “happy” at the signing of the agreement.
The peace deal, which followed intense lobbying from world leaders with Washington slapping sanctions on senior military commanders, came following UN warnings that crimes against humanity had likely been carried out in the still raging conflict.
“Today’s agreement to immediately stop the fighting in South Sudan and to negotiate a transitional government could mark a breakthrough for the future of South Sudan,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.
“The hard journey on a long road begins now and the work must continue,” he added. “We urge both leaders to take immediate action now to ensure that this agreement is implemented in full and that armed groups on both sides adhere to its terms.”
The deal recommits to an earlier ceasefire, in tatters ever since it was signed in January.
The rivals “agreed that a transition government offers the best chance to the people of South Sudan” with the promise of fresh elections, without giving a date, Seyoum said.
Both sides also “agreed to open humanitarian corridors ... and to cooperate with the UN” to ensure aid is delivered to the more than five million people in need, he added.
However, while both leaders promised peace, fierce fighting still rages, amid UN warnings of the risk of severe famine and genocide.
The war has claimed thousands — and possibly tens of thousands — of lives, with more than 1.2 million people forced to flee their homes.
Aid agencies are warning that South Sudan is now on the brink of Africa’s worst famine since the 1980s.
African Union official Smail Chergui said that while the agreement was welcomed, “even with the signing, given the current crisis, the restoration of peace in South Sudan will not be easy.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the two leaders must “stop the killing, before the fire they have ignited makes the entire country go down in flames.”
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