A cease-fire deal has been reached between the government of the nascent country of South Sudan and rebel forces to end five weeks of fighting that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.
NPR's Gregory Warner, reporting from Bukavu, in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, says the agreement signed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Thursday for a country-wide cease-fire marks a breakthrough in peace talks that stalled for weeks over the fate of 11 political prisoners under house arrest by the South Sudanese government.
The government and the rebels agreed to an amnesty for the prisoners, but they still must first stand trial.
NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton says that the cessation of hostilities should allow the world's youngest nation to catch its breath, in a bid to restore peace. She says:
"Five weeks of warfare erupted in mid-December in South Sudan, after tension and a political tug-of-war between President Salva Kiir and his erstwhile deputy, Riek Machar."
"After weeks of stop-start negotiations between the two sides, brokered by the regional mediators the signing ceremony is the first real evidence of progress."