South Sudan rivals reach deal on governance, power-sharing

KHARTOUM - Sudan on Tuesday announced that the South Sudan's conflicting parties have reached a deal here on governance and power-sharing, which will be signed on Thursday.

The conflicting parties in South Sudan are currently negotiating in Khartoum under mediation by Sudanese government with a mandate from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development in Africa (IGAD).

"The Sudanese mediation in the internal conflict of South Sudan announces that the parties have reached an agreement on the file of governance and power-sharing during the transitional period," said Sudan's Foreign Ministry in a statement.

It said the parties would sign the initial deal on Thursday at 12:00 pm Sudan local time (GMT 10:00), noting that the final signing is set to be on July 26.

The ministry noted that with the signing of this agreement, all the outstanding issues in South Sudan's conflict would be settled, expressing hope that the deal would bring security, peace and stability to South Sudan.

The deal constitutes a completion to the Khartoum Peace Agreement signed by the South Sudanese conflicting parties on June 27, which included immediate cease-fire and a pre-transitional period of 120 days that went into effect as of the day the agreement was signed.

South Sudan has been suffering from a civil war since December 2013 between the forces loyal to South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit and former Vice President Riek Machar.