South Sudan's rival leaders to form coalition government

South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar agreed to form a unity government, paving the way towards ending more than six years of war that has left at least 380,000 dead and forced 4 million from their homes.
“We have agreed to form the government in two days on 22nd February. We are still discussing on other things and I am hopeful we will resolve them all,” Machar said, and added: “As the president, I will be appointing the vice presidents, and I will start by appointing Riek tomorrow in the morning and I will dissolve the government today and then form a new government on the 22nd“.
The formation of a unity government has been delayed because of the leaders’ failure to resolve key issues such as forming a unified army, carving out state borders and creating a protection force to assure Machar’s security. Kiir said his forces would be in charge of Machar’s protection:”I have taken responsibility of protection, as the unified forces are still under training,” he said.
Earlier this month, Kiir said he would compromise by cutting the current 32 regional states to 10, but Machar rejected the idea of three “administrative areas”of Pibor, Ruweng and Abyei, the most controversial being the oil-rich Ruweng, in the north.
On Thursday, the country’s parliament on endorsed the incorporation of the 10 states and three administrative areas into the constitution. Analysts, however, say that major challenges remain, the biggest one being integrating tens of thousands of former rival forces into a united army.