South Sudan rebels to sign latest draft peace deal

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South Sudanese rebels will sign the latest draft of a comprehensive peace deal with the Juba government later this week after assurances that a power-sharing accord inked earlier this month will be honored, Sudan's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and the leader of the main rebel group, Riek Machar, signed up to the ceasefire and power-sharing agreement earlier this month, after an initial deal in June aimed to end fighting that first broke out in 2013.

The latest round of South Sudan peace talks ended earlier on Tuesday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, where South Sudan's government and other political parties signed a final deal on ending the internal conflict.

Sudan's Foreign Minister Al-Dierdiry Ahmed talks to the press in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Aug. 28, 2018. /VCG Photo

However, the major opposition group, Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by Riek Machar, had declined to sign the deal.

The agreement is intended to end years of civil war in Africa's youngest state that has killed thousands of people. "Intensive negotiations with Dr. Riek Machar ... has led to Dr. Riek Machar agreeing to initial the final peace agreement the day after tomorrow, on Thursday, August 30," Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed said in a statement.

He said Khartoum assured Machar that the points he had raised would be taken up at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a gathering of east Africa nations that has been trying to end the war in South Sudan.

Sudan has brokered talks between Kiir and various rebel groups in Khartoum this year. It has been hosting the third round of the South Sudan peace talks, since Aug. 13.

An internally displaced woman sorts grain at a food distribution by the World Food Programme in the Sudd Swamp near the town of Nyal, in South Sudan, Aug. 19, 2018. /VCG Photo

The stability of South Sudan is important for Sudan and other countries that fear a new flare-up of the conflict could flood them with refugees.

Previous South Sudan peace deals have held for only a matter of months before fighting resumed. Kiir blamed the collapse of those agreements on foreign influence.

South Sudan's civil war erupted in 2013, less than two years after it gained independence from Sudan. The conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced an estimated quarter of South Sudan's population of 12 million and ruined its economy, which heavily relies on crude oil production.

(Top image: South Sudan's President Salva Kiir (R) talks to South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar as they sign a cease-fire and power-sharing agreement in Khartoum, Sudan, Aug. 5, 2018. /VCG Photo)

(With inputs from agencies)