Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi and Ossufo Momade, leader of the Renamo opposition, signed a peace accord Thursday ending years of hostilities that followed a 15-year civil war.
The former rebel group’s remaining fighters are disarming just weeks before a visit by Pope Francis and a national election that will test the now-political rivals’ new resolve.
The permanent cease-fire is the culmination of years of negotiations to end fighting that has flared up several times in the more than 25 years since the end of the civil war in which an estimated 1 million people died.
Pope Francis said he is going to the 30 million people southern African country to push for reconciliation.
The Catholic church in Mozambique helped to negotiate a ceasefire in 1992 and has encouraged peace since then.
The accord will be followed by another agreement to be signed in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, on August 6 pledging peace in the October 15 national elections.
Previous elections have been marred by violence with Renamo claiming that the ruling Frelimo party rigged the results.
Renamo, which is the Portuguese acronym for National Resistance of Mozambique, became an opposition party after the civil war but had never fully disarmed until now.
