South Sudan's President Salva Kiir held talks today with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi at the presidential palace in Cairo where the two leaders reviewed bilateral cooperation between their countries. Kiir says a peace deal signed to end his country's civil war is alive and being implemented. Speaking on Tuesday in Egypt's capital, Cairo, President Salva Kiir rejected attempts by unnamed parties to renegotiate the August 2015 deal. He said that he and his number two - First Vice-President Taban Deng Gai - were working "very closely" together. He said: "We are implementing the agreement." He praised the relationship between the two countries "We are always here as citizens, and not as guests, and so we have a range of things that we have discussed with His Excellency for the implementation of the peace agreement, you know, there have been ups and downs since we signed the agreement in August 2015." Taban in July replaced exiled opposition leader Riek Machar, who maintains that the deal has collapsed. South Sudan's civil war began in 2013. The peace deal did not entirely stop the fighting and it took eight months of negotiations to persuade Machar and his rebel forces to return to the capital, Juba, only for the city to erupt into conflict in July.
