South Sudan’s war has cooled

IN JULY 2016 Riek Machar, a rebel leader who was then first vice-president of the world’s newest country, fled South Sudan on foot. Fighting had broken out in the capital, Juba, between his forces and those of the president, Salva Kiir. Under fire from helicopter gunships, some 2,000 of his soldiers and their families walked more than 100 miles to Garamba National Park in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. By the time the UN evacuated the rebels from the park, some were so starved that they weighed less than 45 kilograms.

On September 9th Mr Machar returned to Juba for talks with Mr Kiir—only the second time he had been in the country since his escape. South Sudan’s civil war, which caused a famine and encouraged more than 2m people to flee, is winding down. Humanitarian aid, which had been all but blocked by fighting, is reaching most parts of the country. Could one of Africa’s bloodiest wars be coming to an end at last? Maybe. But do not bet on it just yet.