Central African peace deal not complete

Several parties to the Central African Republic’s peace accord have yet to sign the deal, a minister said on Thursday.

The accord was signed in Bangui on Wednesday by militia leaders and President FaustinArchange Touadera, but its contents have not been disclosed.

“You cannot publish a document until everyone has signed,” government spokesperson and communications minister Ange Maxime Kazagui said.

“There are still three signatures” needed, he said, without identifying the individuals or their affiliation.

Those signatures could be made during the upcoming summit of the AU, taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 10-11, he said.

If so, the accord, named the Khartoum Agreement after the Sudanese capital where it was brokered, will be published afterwards, he said.

The accord was reached at the weekend by the Central African Republic government and 14 armed groups.

The deal is the eighth attempt in nearly six years to forge peace in the war-ravaged country.

The conflict has left thousands dead and forced a quarter of the population of 4.5-million from their homes. The UN warned in 2018 that the rural exodus could drive the country into famine.

One of the biggest obstacles to peace has been demands by rebel leaders to receive amnesty, a condition Touadera, under pressure from western partners, has refused.

Several leaders face UN sanctions or have been accused by rights groups of abuses, and others face the notional risk of arrest in the Central African Republic itself.

The republic’s descent into crisis began in 2012, when a predominantly Muslim movement, the Seleka, rose in the north of the country.

In 2013, the rebels overthrew president Francois Bozize, a Christian, which led to the formation of mainly Christian militias called the anti-Balaka. France, the former colonial ruler, intervened under a UN mandate and the Seleka were forced from power.

Touadera, a former prime minister, was elected president in 2016, but controls just a fifth of the country, helped by a UN peacekeeping force.