President of South Sudan and Rebel Fmr. Vice-President Agree to Complete Talks on Transitional Gov’t in 60 Days

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir sits after he signed a peace agreement with South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar in Addis Ababa May 9, 2014. (CREDIT: REUTERS/TIKSA NEGERI)

Officials say that South Sudan’s president and its former vice president have agreed to complete talks on the formation of a transitional national unity government within 60 days.

A statement by IGAD, a bloc of East Africa nations, released late Tuesday said the body was disappointed in the failures of government and rebel troops to honor two cease-fires signed since hostilities broke out in December.

IGAD said the government and rebels both must allow unhindered humanitarian access to the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled their homes since fighting began.

Aid experts fear that severe hunger could hit South Sudan because residents have not planted crops during the fighting. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the nearly six-month conflict.

SOURCE: The Associated Press