Rivals in South Sudan have agreed to sign a security deal, which is a major pillar of a peace accord struck in 2018.
Following Sudan’s mediation, the agreement was signed on Sunday in Juba, the capital.
Tensions between President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar recently erupted, resulting in fighting between their forces.
The agreement lays out the terms for integrating rebel commanders into the military.
In critical positions in the army, police, and security forces, President Kiir’s faction will have a 60 percent participation. The remaining 40% will be occupied by Mr Machar’s SPLM-IO and other opposition groupings.
Within a week, the opposition will provide a list of their top commanders.
It will be followed by the graduation of the united troops and subsequent deployment which, according to the agreement, should not last more than two months.
“People of South Sudan are yearning for peace and peace is about security and today we have made a milestone in that. We have agreed that we shall be moving forward.
“I want to call on my colleagues from the other sides that it is important to silence the guns so that South Sudan can prosper. Let there be not fighting, let there be no attacks,” said Major General Martin Abucha, who represented Machar’s faction.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc, has welcomed the agreement as “a great breakthrough.”