[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] South Sudan freed two associates of rebel leader Riek Machar from prison on Friday, advancing a peace agreement to end almost five years of civil war.
The two - retired South African colonel William Endley, an adviser to Machar, and James Gatdet, Machar’s front man, had been sentenced to death.
President Salva Kiir on Wednesday ordered their release on Wednesday to reinforce the peace accord signed in September.
"We are here to implement the orders of the president. Their release comes as part of the grinding of the peace processor. They are now free," Interior Minister Michael Chiangjiek said after signing the paperwork confirming their release.
Sudan erupted in conflict in 2013 after Kiir sacked Machar as vice president. Ethnically charged fighting soon spread, shutting down oil fields and forcing millions to flee.
At least 383,000 South Sudanese have died as a result of the war, through combat, starvation, disease or other factors, according to a recent study by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine researchers.
Under pressure from governments in East Africa and from United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
and Western donors, Machar’s group, other rebel factions and the government signed the peace accord under which he will again become vice president.
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