South Sudan's Transitional Government of National Unity and opposition groups have signed an agreement to intensify efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability in the country, Kenya's State Department for Foreign Affairs said.
The meeting, brokered by the Kenyan government, took place in the capital city of Nairobi and concluded with the signing of a declaration of commitment to the Tumaini Initiative, which means "hope" in Swahili, to achieve sustainable peace in the country.
The signing ceremony was attended by senior government officials, diplomats, opposition groups, civil society and bilateral partners, all of whom witnessed the commitment to the peace process in South Sudan, the Kenyan department added.
Abraham Korir Sing'oei, Kenya's principal secretary of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, said that the parties to the peace process in South Sudan, including the government and opposition groups, have an obligation to promote justice, governance, economic growth and security sector reforms to achieve long-term goals.
Albino Matom, head of the South Sudanese government delegation, said the talks showed why domestic solutions are key to resolving regional conflicts, according to local media.
Pagan Amum Okiech, spokesperson for the South Sudanese opposition groups, reportedly said that the signing of the Tumaini declaration of commitment heralds a "new era of lasting peace, unity and respect for political pluralism."
South Sudan appeared on the world's political map in 2011, after an overwhelming majority of participants in the referendum on self-determination for South Sudan voted to secede from the northern part of the country.
In 2013, conflict erupted in South Sudan between members of the dominant Dinka nation, to which President Salva Kiir belongs, and the Nuer tribe, represented by former Vice President Riek Mashar. In September 2018, Kiir and Mashar signed a peace deal in Ethiopia in which the rebels ceased fire, but fighting continues in different parts of the country as some rebel opposition groups did not join the deal.