BANGUI • The Central African Republic’s (CAR) government has signed a ceasefire accord with the last major rebel group to join a national peace process aimed at ending years of instability, officials said yesterday.
Government envoys signed the accord on Friday in Libreville, Gabon, with the Popular Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (APRD), whose bush fighters operate in Central African Republic’s northwest bordering Cameroon and Chad.
President Francois Bozize, who seized power in 2003 and won elections two years later, signed peace pacts with two other rebel groups last year and is promoting a political dialogue aimed at reuniting the poor, violence-torn former French colony.
The APRD had initially stayed out of the reconciliation process, but later sent mediators to talk to Bozize.
Communications Minister Cyriaque Gonda, who led the government delegation to the signing in Libreville, said the peace accord foresaw an immediate ceasefire.
APRD rebel fighters would remain in their northwest bases, pending their future integration into the national army, and the authorities would suspend all legal action against them.
“This agreement opens the way for us to be able to immediately start organising an inclusive political dialogue in the coming months,” Gonda said in comments cited on Saturday by the Central African Republic’s state media.
The national political dialogue launched by Bozize is due to bring together for talks the rebel groups which have signed peace deals, the government and civilian foes of the president.
Landlocked Central African Republic, one of the world’s poorest states, has suffered 11 attempted coups or mutinies in the past decade alone. Instability had hampered the full exploitation of its gold, diamond and uranium wealth.
Raids by several armed groups, including some crossing from Chad and Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, and counter-attacks by government soldiers have driven nearly 300,000 people from their homes in the northwest and northeast since 2006, aid groups say.
