The Egyptian Foreign Ministry welcomed the return of South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar to Juba and being sworn in as vice-president in line with a peace deal aimed at ending more than two years of conflict.

Machar returned earlier to the capital, Juba, to take the post in a new unity government led by President Salva Kiir.

In a statement on Thursday, the ministry said Egypt considers the return of Machar as an important step for restoring stability and security in South Sudan.

The ministry stressed that Egypt would continue exerting efforts to back Sudan. 

Machar fled Juba at the start of the civil war in December 2013.

He had been accused of trying to organize a coup, which he denied - but it set off a round of tit-for-tat killings, which developed into a full-blown conflict.

Tens of thousands have been killed and about two million people left homeless in the conflict in South Sudan, which became independent in 2011.

Source: MENA