JUBA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency on Monday welcomed South Sudan's accession to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the world's youngest nation has become the 143rd country to accede to both documents.
"This is a milestone for the world's youngest nation as South Sudan commits to assuming more responsibility to protect refugees and asylum-seekers in the country," Valentin Tapsoba, director of UNHCR's Regional Bureau for Africa, said in a statement.
The move came after President Salva Kiir on Friday signed the accession instrument in Juba after it was ratified by the Transitional National Legislative Assembly.
South Sudan in 2016 became a party to the 1969 Organization of African Union Convention on Refugees, a regional instrument governing the specific aspects of refugee problems in the African continent.
South Sudan's warring parties last month signed a "final revitalized peace agreement" to an end five years of killing and suffering in the East African nation.
The conflict erupted in 2013 after forces loyal to Kiir and his former deputy Machar engaged in combat.
A 2015 peace agreement to end the violence was again violated in July 2016, when rival factions resumed fighting in Juba, which forced Machar to flee into exile.
Millions of South Sudanese civilians have sought refuge in neighboring countries as the conflict rages on despite attempts by international players to end it.
