JUBA: In a major breakthrough, South Sudan’s rival leaders sealed an agreement Sunday on a key military provision of their faltering peace deal following mediation by neighbouring Sudan.

President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice President Riek Machar, agreed on the creation of a unified armed forces command, one of several crucial unresolved issues holding up implementation of the 2018 deal to end the country’s bloody five-year civil war.

“Peace is about security and today we have (achieved) a milestone,” said Martin Abucha, who signed the agreement on behalf of Machar’s opposition party the SPLM/A-IO. “This to inform everyone that we are for peace and let all of us work for peace,” added Kiir’s security adviser Tut Gatluak. Tensions between forces loyal to Kiir and former rebel leader Machar have spiralled recently, triggering fears in the international community of a return to full-blown conflict in the world’s youngest nation.