(VOVworld) – The UN Security Council has threatened to act immediately if South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir doesn’t sign a peace deal with the opposition to end the 20-month-old civil war in the country.

Leaders of South Sudan and the opposition met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Aug. 17, 2015.

Nigerian Ambassador to the UN, Joy Ogwu, said at the UN Security Council meeting on South Sudan’s crisis, that UN member countries must express their readiness to respond if President Kiir doesn’t sign the peace deal on August 26 as he has committed. 
UN Special envoy in South Sudan Ellen Margrethe Loej said that if the peace deal was signed it would just be the first step towards ending the civil war. She described the agreement as a positive and hopeful move, but there remained many challenges ahead.