South Sudan Cease-Fire Is Signed, but ‘Difficult’ Period Awaitsbr 21, 2017br ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — South Sudan’s warring factions on Thursday signed a new agreement to cease hostilitiesbr and protect civilians in the latest effort to calm a devastating civil war.br The two sides also signed an agreement to grant humanitarian access to conflict-affected areas after days ofbr talks in neighboring Ethiopia brokered by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development regional bloc.br The government’s lead delegate to the talks, the cabinet affairs minister, Martin Elias Lomoro, told The Associated Pressbr that the rebel leader Riek Machar did not take part because he was not deemed helpful.br Parts of the East African country, the world’s youngest nation, are on the brink of famine,br and well over a million people have fled abroad, creating the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis.br Past attempts at peace deals have failed, but South Sudan’s government is under pressure tobr find an end to the war as the United States and others have threatened further sanctions.