South Sudan's government and rebels have agreed on sharing the country's ministries for a proposed transitional government, according to the Joint Monitoring and evaluation Commission (JMEC) of the Inter-Government Authority for Development in Africa (IGAD).

"South Sudan government and the opposition group have agreed on a transitional government and allocation of ministries during joint talks in Juba," said Festus Mogae, former Botswana president and head of the JMEC, in a statement late Thursday.

He said the two sides agreed on a transitional government consisting of 30 ministries, with 16 ministries going to the government, 10 to the rebels, two to the political detainees group and two to the other political parties.

The ministries of defense, finance, justice, and information are among the portfolios that will go to the current government.

The rebel group, led by former Vice-President Riek Machar, meanwhile, will take among others the ministries of petroleum, interior and water resources and irrigation.

The ministries of foreign affairs and international cooperation and transport will go to former detainees group, while the ministries of cabinet affairs and agriculture and food security will go to other political parties.

The South Sudanese parties' agreement on sharing the ministries paves the way for the formation of a transitional government of national unity by January 22 as scheduled by the JMEC.

In August last year, the South Sudanese rivals signed a peace deal under the patronage of the IGAD to end the violence in the new-born country.

The signed deal grants the current government a legislation majority, the presidency and 53 percent of the ministerial portfolios.

It gives the rebels the position of first vice president and 33 percent of ministerial portfolios, while the remaining 14 percent was allotted for other opposition groups, excluding the Greater Upper Nile region (Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity States) where 53 percent were proposed to go to the rebels and 33 for the current government.

South Sudan nosedived into violence in December 2013, with fighting erupting between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir Mayardit and defectors led by his former deputy Machar.

The conflict soon turned into a full-fledged war, as violence espoused an ethnic element pitting the president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

The clashes left thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced 1.9 million individuals to flee their homes.

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