South Sudan rivals strike power-sharing deal
Former South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar has been sworn in as first vice-president, sealing a peace deal targeted at ending six years of civil war.
President Salva Kiir witnessed as soon as at a ceremony at the State House in the capital, Juba.
It really is hoped that the brand new unity government will bring a finish to the conflict that has killed about 400,000 people and displaced millions.
However, previous deals were widely heralded and then fall apart.
Saturday's ceremony took place right before the deadline for an agreement expired.
"For the persons of South Sudan, I would like to assure you that we will work together to get rid of your suffering," Mr Machar said after taking the oath.
Then embraced and shook hands with President Kiir.
"We must forgive each other and reconcile," said Mr Kiir. "I also appeal to the people of Dinka and Nuer (rival ethnic groups) to forgive one another."
Also present at the ceremony was the leader of Sudan, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Three other vice-presidents were also sworn in including Rebecca Garang, the widow of South Sudan's founding father, John Garang.
Under the agreement, the existing cabinet has been dissolved to create method for more opposition members.
Correspondents say some issues remain unresolved including power-sharing and the integration of rebel fighters, however the two sides have agreed to form a government and address other matters later.
The offer was announced hours following the UN released a damning report accusing both sides of deliberately starving civilians during their struggle for power.
What's the importance of the agreement?
President Kiir has expressed hope that the transitional three-year period will pave just how for refugees and internally displaced people to return with their homes.
In addition to those killed or displaced, numerous others have already been pushed to the brink of starvation and faced untold suffering.
If the offer holds, it might herald a fresh start in the world's hottest country.
What's the fighting about?
South Sudan became an unbiased state from Sudan in 2011, marking the end of a long-running civil war. But it did not take long for the promise of peace to crumble.
Just 2 yrs after independence, the united states returned to violent conflict after President Kiir sacked Machar, then your deputy president in December 2013.
President Kiir had accused Mr Machar of plotting a coup to overthrow him, which Mr Machar denied.
As the war had political origins, in addition, it has ethnic undertones and is dependant on power dynamics.
The Dinka and Nuer, South Sudan's two greatest ethnic groups, which the two leaders belong to, have been accused of targeting one another in the war, with atrocities committed by both sides.
Why has it been so difficult to strike a deal?
Parties have been unable or unwilling to acknowledge the terms for the forming of a transitional government, in line with the revitalised peace agreement of 2018.
The deal was likely to have already been finalized by May 2019 but was postponed twice - the latest deadline being 22 February.
The conflict has pushed the country right into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Despite the situation, it has been problematic for the parties to attain and keep maintaining a peace deal that could stabilise the united states.
Both main leaders have a mutual distrust of the other person and there has not been a cordial working relationship since President Kiir fired Mr Machar in 2013.
Mr Machar hasn't returned permanently to the administrative centre, Juba, fearing for his safety. He fled the country when his forces were engaged in fierce clashes with government troops as the 2016 peace agreement collapsed.
What is real life in South Sudan?
It is pretty bleak. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) ranks the united states as the poorest on earth, by GDP per person. Much of the country isn't developed regarding infrastructure. It has, for instance, just about 300km (186 miles) of paved roads in a country that stretches a lot more than 600,000 sq km.
Most parts of the country beyond your urban centres have no electricity or running water.
South Sudan also has among the lowest literacy rates on earth at 34.5%, according to Unesco (2018).
The UN children's organisation, Unicef, estimates that 70% of children (about 2.2 million) are out of school - risking their future and that of their country. This represents one of the highest rates of out-of-school children in the world.
Globally, South Sudan has the fourth lowest human development indices despite its huge natural resource potential, such as for example fertile agricultural land, gold, diamonds and petroleum. (UNDP's Human Development Index measures the common achievements in human development: a long and healthy life, knowledge and decent standard of living.)
As of 2019, over fifty percent of the populace required humanitarian assistance, with extreme degrees of acute food insecurity in the united states, in line with the World Bank.
The country is almost solely dependent on oil revenues and there is very little investment in other sectors such as agriculture and infrastructure.
Does the offer guarantee lasting peace?
There are certainly no guarantees.
More than 10 agreements and ceasefires have already been reached since the two leaders fell out in 2013, and their inability to sustain any deal, including on power-sharing, has been in the centre of the conflict.
Peter Adwok Nyaba, an activist and former minister in South Sudan, says in a 2019 advisory that the agreement does not fully address the conflict elements of ethnic nationalism, power struggles and weak institutions of governance, which he says remain alive regardless of the deal.
"This is an average vicious circle: poverty-conflict-peace insufficient development then conflict," he says.
