South Sudan’s warring rivals on Tuesday agreed a 60-day timeline to form a transitional government, in a new step to solve the conflict in the world’s newest state.

South Sudan's warring rivals on Tuesday agreed a 60-day timeline to form a transitional government, in a new step to solve the conflict in the world's newest state.

Speaking at an extraordinary summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a trading bloc of East African nations, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said the two rivals agreed on the timeline to prepare conditions that would lead to the formation of a transitional government.

He thanked both President Salva Kiir and his main rival Riek Machar for showing willingness to solve their differences.

The agreement came during an IGAD extraordinary summit in Addis Ababa to discuss developments in South Sudan.

South Sudan's warring rivals signed an IGAD-mediated peace deal in Addis Ababa in May, following a January cessation of hostilities agreement. Neither deal, however, succeeded in ending ongoing hostility by both sides.

The U.N. peacekeeping department has had to boost the number of troops and police and alter its mandate to make protecting civilians a top priority for the U.N. mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS.