Johannesberg: A cease-fire began at midnight on Saturday in South Sudan as a weary nation wondered whether this latest attempt to end a five-year civil war would hold, unlike its predecessors.

President Salva Kiir and rival Riek Machar agreed on the "permanent" cease-fire on Wednesday after their first face-to-face talks in almost two years. They had faced a possible UN arms embargo and sanctions if fighting didn't stop and a political deal wasn't reached by Saturday.

Multiple attempts at peace have failed, and the latest cease-fire in December was violated within hours, to the growing frustration of the international community. Both Kiir and Machar this week ordered their supporters to observe the latest agreement as of Saturday.

The civil war that erupted between supporters of Kiir and his then-deputy Machar in late 2013, just two years after South Sudan won independence from Sudan, has killed tens of thousands and created Africa's largest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Both sides have been accused of ethnic violence and atrocities such as gang-rapes.

Millions are near famine. The new peace deal calls for the unhindered delivery of aid in one of the world's most dangerous countries for humanitarian workers, as well as the withdrawal of forces and the release of prisoners of war.