South Sudan's warring factions have agreed to a cease-fire

(Image credit: Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

published 2 February 2015

In Ethiopia on Monday, South Sudan President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, rebel leader and Kiir's former vice president, signed an agreement to end 15 months of bloody hostilities. The provisional deal calls for a power-sharing government with Kiir as president and Machar as vice president again, Reuters reports, and the details are supposed to be worked out in follow-up talks beginning Feb. 20.

This isn't the first ceasefire agreement Kiir and Machar have signed in the brief history of oil-rich South Sudan. Since fighting broke out in December 2013, a few months after Kiir dismissed Machar and the rest of his cabinet, more than 10,000 people have been killed and another 1.5 million displaced. Diplomats at the meeting had reportedly threatened sanctions if the two sides couldn't reach a deal. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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