S. Sudan rebel leader says met Sudanese, Ugandan presidents in Khartoum: report

South Sudan's rebel leader, Riek Machar, said he met Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in a tripartite meeting, Sudanese media reported on Thursday.

"President al-Bashir's mediation succeeded in bridging gaps, as Museveni expressed his willingness to pull his troops out of South Sudan, according to the terms of the recent peace agreement during the meeting in Khartoum Wednesday," Machar was quoted as saying.

Machar said Museveni had invited him to visit Kampala, the Ugandan capital, but the timing would be determined later.

Machar arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday, which coincided with Museveni's visit to Sudan Wednesday.

When clashes erupted between South Sudan's government army and the rebels, Uganda declared its support for South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit, deploying thousands of Ugandan troops to fight alongside South Sudan's army against rebel forces led by Machar.

South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy Machar.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension.

The clashes killed thousands of South Sudanese citizens and forced around 1.9 million to flee their homes.

However, after South Sudanese warring parties signed a peace deal last August, Uganda promised to withdraw its forces from South Sudan if the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development in Africa (IGAD) deployed its forces to monitor the peace agreement in the south. Endit