The UN Special Representative to the Secretary General in South Sudan, Ellen Margrethe Loj says the warring parties to the conflict should implement the peace agreement in good faith, once it is signed.

President Salva Kiir is expected to sign the peace agreement today. The other two signatories to the deal, Dr Riek Machar of SPLM-IO and Pagan Amum, representative of the former political detainees, have already signed the peace accord.

Ms Loj made the statement on Tuesday while briefing the UN Security Council on the situation in the country.

She emphasized that the situation is still volatile and tense.

Ms Loj called upon the warring parties to cease all hostilities immediately in the interest of the people of South Sudan.

“Peace, stability, and prosperity will not come to South Sudan overnight; this process will require concerted and sustained efforts from both national stakeholders and international partners,” she stressed.

Ms Loj also noted that fighting in the Greater Upper Nile region has remained intense, and that further escalation of hostilities in southern Unity State has had increasingly severe consequences for the civilian population.