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Another Power-Sharing Deal Reached in South Sudan Civil War

by VOA News

   Leaders of South Sudan's warring parties have reached a peace agreement
   that will see rebel leader Riek Machar reinstated to the vice
   presidency and a possible end to the 5-year-old civil war.

   "It has been agreed that there will be four vice presidents: the
   current two vice presidents, plus Riek Machar, (who) will assume the
   position of first vice president, and then the fourth position will be
   allocated to a woman from the opposition," South Sudan's Foreign
   Minister Al-Dierdiry Ahmed announced at the end of talks, which were
   held in Uganda and mediated by Uganda President Yoweri Museveni and
   Sudan President Omar al-Bashir.

   The agreement is aimed at bringing an end to the civil war that erupted
   in 2013 after a falling out between South Sudan President Salva Kiir
   and Machar.

   A similar power-sharing deal that returned Machar to the vice
   presidency was signed in 2015. But it collapsed a year later.

   The war has killed tens of thousands of people and forced 4 million
   people to flee their homes. About 2 million South Sudanese have sought
   refuge in the neighboring countries of Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan
   and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

   It has also created Africa's largest refugee crisis since 1994, when
   the genocide in Rwanda left millions of people near famine.