BANGUI
The warring predominantly Muslim Seleka and predominantly Christian anti-Balaka militias on Sunday signed a deal to disarm, nearly a week after the government mediated negotiations between them.
The negotiations aimed to bring an end to two years of sectarian fighting in the Central African Republic (CAR).
Apart from suspending hostilities in a country plagued by civil war since 2013, Sunday's deal covers the disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation of fighters from all militias across CAR.
The deal, signed in capital Bangui in the presence of Defense Minister Marie Noelle Koyara, entailed a 30-day deadline for militants from both camps to surrender their arms voluntarily.
Militants who keep their arms past the deadline will be forcibly disarmed by peacekeepers from the UN mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
The agreement also commits the two groups to renouncing violence as a means of achieving political demands.
It also involves the reintegration of armed rebels into society.
A cease-fire agreement was signed by the two militias last summer in Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo.
However, not all terms of the agreements had been honored.
CAR descended into anarchy in 2013 when seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize, a Christian who had come to power in a 2003 coup. The rebels later installed Michel Djotodia, a Muslim, as interim president.
Djotodia later stepped down and was replaced by President Catherine Samba-Panza, a Christian, amid a wave of sectarian violence.
Since then, the country has been plagued by tit-for-tat violence between anti-balaka militiamen and seleka fighters.
