South Sudan’s government said on Thursday it had postponed the initialling of a peace deal between the Sudanese government and the opposition coalition Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF).

Tut Gatluak, head of the South Sudan mediation team in the Sudanese peace talks, said at a press conference in Juba that the initialling of the peace agreement has been delayed from its original schedule on Friday to next Monday.

Tut pointed out that the work on revising the documents to be initialled will continue on Friday and Saturday.

The chief mediator announced that the signing ceremony will be attended by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit and several Sudanese officials. Tut added that the ceremony will also be attended by foreign ministers of IGAD countries, Chad, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and many friendly countries to Sudan.

The new transitional government and armed opposition leaders plan to bring an end to Sudan’s years-long civil wars after a power-sharing deal between the military and a pro-democracy movement following the overthrow of former president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

The transitional government has repeatedly said achieving peace and stability is crucial to rebuilding the country.

Since October 2019, South Sudan has been mediating between the Sudanese government and the various opposition factions.