Despite threats of sanctions by mediators,South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has failed to sign a peace deal in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, aimed at ending the civil war in his country. Both human and material resources have been lost since fighting broke out in 2013.

The government has initialled a draft agreement, but requested a further 15 days before signing in full. .

Rebel leader Riek Machar, who did sign the deal, said he had expected more concessions from Mr Kiir, and did not know beforehand that the South Sudanese president would fail to sign it.

President Kiir's team had "reservations" over the deal and wanted 15 days for "consultations" before returning to sign it, Seyoum Mesfin, mediator for the regional group Igad, told the media.

Mr Mesfin described it as "a great day in the forward movement of the peace process in South Sudan", despite noting that the signing of the deal was "not complete".

For the past few weeks, President Kiir's camp had complained about the proposed peace deal.

How could they sign a document which would give so much power to Riek Machar and his rebels? Surely the proposed security arrangements were detrimental to South Sudan's sovereignty?

There were several supposedly spontaneous (but probably organised) demonstrations against the foreign imposition of a peace deal. So on one level, President Kiir's decision not to sign the agreement is not a surprise.

Over the next two weeks, he will have to decide whether he can convince the hardliners within his own government and army that this is a deal worth accepting. One thing is clear, though: if he doesn't sign, all the international pressure - the threats of sanctions, arms embargoes and more - would then be concentrated fully on President Kiir and his side.

The contents of the deal are not yet clear, but there was disagreement about power-sharing in a transitional government.

Alongside Mr Machar, the deal was also signed by Pagan Amum, a senior South Sudanese politician who is representing other significant political figures accused of involvement in the alleged coup.

Mr Amum was recently reinstated as secretary general of the ruling SPLM