World Bulletin / News Desk

South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar signed a deal in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday to put an end to the crisis that has been raging in their fledgling country for over a year now.

The signing of the deal follows marathon talks in Addis Ababa, ones that were sponsored by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. The talks lasted for 72 hours.

The deal calls for the formation of a transitional government in South Sudan, lays down the principles of power-sharing in the country and specifies security arrangements.

South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, has been shaken by violence since late 2013, when Kiir accused Machar, his sacked vice-president, of leading a failed coup attempt against his regime.

Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese have since been displaced in fighting between the two rivals, close to two million people have been uprooted from their homes, and hundreds of thousands now seek shelter in refugee camps across the country.

In recent months, the warring camps have held on-again, off-again peace talks in Addis Ababa.