South Sudan's President Salva Kiir this evening announced the appointment of former rebel leader Riek Machar as First Vice President, a move anticipated by the peace agreement signed last August but long delayed. 

The incumbent vice president, James Wani Igga, will take the post of second vice president.

Kiir's decree tonight restores Machar to a position he had held from 2005 until mid-2013, when he was removed shortly before the outbreak of civil war. In 2014 he formed the rebel group SPLM-IO and declared he would overthrow the government and install himself as president. He signed a peace deal with the government in August 2015. 

According to the peace deal, the new First Vice President will have authority in several areas, including oversight of implementation of legislation passed by parliament, chairing sub-committees of the cabinet and following up cabinet decisions with various ministries or organs of government to ensure their implementation. 

However, Machar himself has not yet returned to Juba but remains in exile. An SPLM-IO official told Radio Tamazuj this week that he would not return to Juba until his bodyguards have arrived ahead of him.

Also pending is the formation of the new cabinet consisting of members from all of the three main factions that signed the August 2015 peace deal: SPLM-Juba, SPLM-IO and SPLM-FD, plus two cabinet ministers from other parties. 

The factions last August divvied up the ministries, leaving the defense ministry, justice, information and national security in the hands of ruling party, among others, while several key ministries were handed over to the opposition, including petroleum and foreign affairs. 

File photo: Salva Kiir and Riek Machar