Riek Machar: South Sudan rebel leader sworn in as vice president

The United Nations Security Council had expressed serious concern over the failure of South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar to return to Juba to take up his old post as deputy to President Salva Kiir as part of a peace deal.

  South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar addresses a news conference upon arriving at the Juba International Airport, South Sudan, April 26, 2016.  

South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar was sworn in as first vice president, a Reuters witness said, after returning to the capital Juba on Tuesday for the first time since conflict broke out more than two years ago.

Machar resumes a post he held before the conflict erupted in December 2013. Kiir's sacking of Machar as his deputy earlier 2013 had precipitated the crisis.

The United Nations Security Council had expressed serious concern over the failure of South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar to return to Juba to take up his old post as deputy to President Salva Kiir as part of a peace deal.