South Sudan's ruling and opposition parties agreed on Friday to give themselves six more months to form a unity government as part of a peace deal they signed in September, the regional group IGAD said in a statement.
Also on Friday, President Salva Kiir lifted a state of emergency imposed in 2017 in five northern states of the country, South Sudan Radio reported, in a bid to help foster peace.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but descended into a civil war two years later. After a string of failed agreements, a peace deal was signed last September between the two sides, represented by Kiir and his former deputy turned rival, Riek Machar.