"The Secretary-General welcomes the return of Riek Machar to Juba and his swearing in as the First Vice President which marks a new phase in the implementation of the peace agreement. The Secretary-General calls for the immediate formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity," the statement read.
The UN chief also appealed to the UN Security Council to cooperate with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) to mobilize all the required support for the peace process, the statement added.
South Sudan has been engaged in an armed ethnic conflict since December 2013, when President Salva Kiir said that a military coup had been planned in the country, pointing the blame at Machar. More than a million people have fled their homes in South Sudan, which descended into a civil war, a year-and-a-half after the nation gained independence from Sudan.
