CAIRO, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi reiterated on Wednesday his country's support for the recent agreement on the formation of a transitional unity government in South Sudan to achieve peace in the country.
Sisi's remarks came during a phone call he received from South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, who expressed appreciation of Egypt's efforts to support peace in his country, Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.
In February, Kiir and ex-vice president and later opposition leader Riek Machar announced the formation of a transitional unity government to end the civil war in South Sudan. Machar was also sworn in as the first vice president of the country, besides three other vice presidents.
The Egyptian president stressed the necessity for all South Sudanese parties to continue working on implementing the items of the agreement, said the Egyptian statement.
For his part, Kiir affirmed "South Sudan's keenness to continue enhancing different aspects of joint cooperation with Egypt in the coming period," Rady said.
Gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has been suffering a civil war since late 2013 following Kiir's dismissal of Machar over a conspiracy suspicion.
The conflict has claimed the lives of several thousand in South Sudan and displaced about a third of the country's 12-million population.
The unity government formation is based on a 2018 revitalized peace deal signed in Ethiopia. Under the agreement, the government and opposition groups are tasked with establishing a unified national army to avoid repetition of violence that ruined a 2015 peace agreement.
