Joel Bouopda Tatou/Associated Press
President François Bozizé of Central African Republic, right, who will finish out his term, with Michel Djotodia, a rebel leader, after talks Friday in Gabon.
Bringing a tentative close to an uprising that brought the Central African Republic to the brink of civil war, the government and rebel fighters seeking to oust the president signed a deal on Friday for a weeklong cease-fire that could mature into a peace plan.
Under the agreement, President François Bozizé will not cede power, but a coalition government will be formed and an opposition leader will be named prime minister, according to participants in the negotiations, held in nearby Gabon. Those changes will come only after several other rebel demands have been met, including the release of political prisoners taken by the government during the uprising — their number is unclear — and the departure of soldiers from South Africa and Angola who were sent to bolster the tottering government.
The rebels, an alliance of several groups called the Seleka coalition, swept through the north of the country in December toward the capital city, Bangui. They are still not convinced of Mr. Bozizé’s good will. Should the coalition’s conditions not be met within one week, the cease-fire will not be honored, said Col. François Florian Njadder-Bedaya, a rebel spokesman.
“He’s quite cunning, Bozizé,” Colonel Njadder-Bedaya said. “We want to judge words, speech, with acts.”
A former military officer, Mr. Bozizé seized power in 2003 and has since been elected twice, though there are doubts about the legitimacy of his electoral success. The rebels say he has overseen torture and illegal executions, has not given the country’s north a voice in government and has failed to honor the terms of peace agreements signed with rebels beginning in 2007. Mr. Bozizé’s current term is set to end in 2016, and the agreement signed Friday will allow him to complete it.
Bangui was calm on Friday afternoon. Small groups of government soldiers remain posted in the city, but only at strategic locations; a nightly curfew is not strictly enforced.
In one month of fighting, the rebels seized control of several northern cities and swept south before being stopped at Damara, the final strategic city on the road to Bangui. Hundreds of soldiers from a multinational African peacekeeping force had massed there to prevent the rebels from reaching the capital.
The agreement signed Friday does not require the rebels to retreat from their current positions, and they will not, Colonel Njadder-Bedaya said. Rather, they will await the formation of the coalition government, and will be integrated into the national army, he said.
The coalition government, which participants in the peace talks called a “national unity” government, is to include representatives of Mr. Bozizé’s political group, the Kwa Na Kwa — “Work, Nothing but Work” in Sango, the national language — the opposition, armed groups and civil society.
The National Assembly, which Mr. Bozizé’s opponents dismiss as a corrupt mouthpiece for his government, will be dissolved and replaced by a transitional council. Legislative elections are to be held in 12 months, though the date could be later. Presidential elections will be held at the end of Mr. Bozizé’s term.
“This is a way to accompany Mr. Bozizé toward an honorable exit,” Colonel Njadder-Bedaya said.
The rebels had earlier insisted that there would be no cease-fire without the president’s immediate departure. That demand, however, was rejected early in talks as being unconstitutional.
“Within the constitutional framework, it wasn’t possible,” said Bruno Hyacinthe Gbiégba, a lawyer and the president of an antitorture group who served as an observer at the talks.
Should Mr. Bozizé fail to meet the agreed conditions, the rebels will call upon other nations to intervene, Colonel Njadder-Bedaya said, though this seems an unlikely outcome.
“We’re not in a military situation; we’re in a diplomatic situation,” the colonel said. Still, he added, “I admit to you, things might blow up.”
Rebels Agree to Cease-Fire in Central African Republic
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Rebels Agree to Cease-Fire in Central African Republic
