MOSCOW, June 11 (PNA/RIA Novosti) — South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit and rebel leader Riek Machar have agreed to forge a transitional government within a 60-day deadline, Al Jazeera reported Wednesday quoting Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn as saying.
“They agreed to complete the dialogue process within the coming 60 days on what, how, when and who [for] the formation of the transitional government,” he said.
The meeting between Kiir and Machar took place in Addis Ababa on the sidelines of a regional leaders summit on Tuesday.
Last week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged South Sudan’s president to meet Machar and cease all military operations.
The Republic of South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2011. In December 2013, a political power struggle broke out between President Kiir and his ex-deputy Machar, as the president accused Machar of attempting a coup d’état. More than 800,000 people have been displaced inside South Sudan and more than 250,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, especially Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda, as a result of the conflict, according to the UN report published in March. (PNA/RIA Novosti)