World Bulletin/News Desk

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on Tuesday lifted a nighttime curfew in Juba that was first imposed one year ago.

Kiir ordered the curfew lifted while also tasking security forces to continuously monitor security in the capital, Minister for the Presidency Awan Guol Riak said in a Tuesday statement.

Full-blown conflict erupted on December 15 of last year, which Kiir at the time had been quick to portray as a "coup attempt" by Riek Machar, his sacked vice-president, and the latter's supporters.

After announcing the failure of Machar's alleged coup attempt, Kiir declared a state of emergency across South Sudan.

In the one year since, the ensuing conflict between the two rivals has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced nearly two million people, and left about four million people facing food insecurity, according to humanitarian agencies.

In recent months, the warring camps have held on-again, off-again peace talks in Addis Ababa under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an East Africa regional grouping based in Djibouti.