Armed groups in the Central African Republic in July reached a ceasefire deal aimed at putting an end to the violence that has engulfed the country since March 2013.
The ten-part agreement was signed on July 23 in Brazzaville, the capital of the neighbouring Republic of Congo, under the aegis of Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso, the international mediator on the crisis in CAR.
Directed against Christians
The landlocked African nation has been wracked by violence since December 2012, when a coalition of Muslim-dominated rebel groups under the Séléka banner moved through the country to eventually drive out President Francois Bozizé in March 2013. Ten months of Séléka violence followed, much of which was directed at Christians, thousands of whom were killed or driven from their homes.
No disarmament
The July 23 ceasefire agreement calls on armed groups to repatriate foreign mercenaries within their ranks, and to drop the idea of partitioning the country. The ceasefire document also calls on combatants to go back to their barracks, ‘subject to mobilisation of necessary resources’. There is no mention of disarmament.
The Brazzaville agreement is the first step in a comprehensive process of national reconciliation, which provides for the holding of public consultations across the country, and the organisation of a national reconciliation forum.
According to local sources, negotiations are underway for the formation of an inclusive new government.
