South Sudan President Salva Kiir has agreed to meet with his former First Vice-President Riek Machar in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, signalling a possible breakthrough in the conflict that continues to wrack the world’s newest country.

Kiir made the announcement on Tuesday on his return to South Sudan’s capital Juba following a meeting with a Sudanese delegation led by foreign Minister Al Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed and including oil minister Azhary Abdel Gader and the head of National Intelligence and Security Services Salah Gosh, the Sudan Tribune reported.

The talks were described as fruitful by South Sudan government spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny with Kiir commending the role the Sudanese government was playing in the stalled peace process.

Kiir, from the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party, and the exiled Machar from the SPLM-In Opposition have repeatedly failed to reach an agreement on leading the country forward following the outbreak of civil war in 2016 despite the intervention of regional bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir has proposed that Kiir meet with Machar in support of IGAD’s high-level revitalisation forum of the agreement on the resolution of the conflict in South Sudan.