South Sudan Opposition Says Initials Peace Deal With Government

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The opposition of South Sudan said that it initiated an agreement with the government to settle the conflict in the country.

"After meetings with [President of Sudan Omar] al-Bashir and the mediation, we have decided to initiate the draft of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS)," the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by Riek Machar and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) said in a joint statement, as quoted by the Sudan Tribune portal.

On Wednesday, Bashir met with Machar and promised to discuss the opposition’s concerns with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s (IGAD) heads of state and government during the upcoming talks of the bloc, the media reported.

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The power-sharing deal was prepared earlier this month to end the conflict ongoing since 2013, and set to be agreed upon by South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Machar, but the latter reportedly hesitated to sign it a final power-sharing deal in Khartoum.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan following a referendum in 2011, in which majority of the voters supported the move. In 2013, a civil war erupted in the country, as Kiir of the Dinka tribe accused Machar, an ethnic Nuer, of planning a coup.