JUBA (Sudan), Feb 23: With whoops and backslaps, Uganda’s government and Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels signed a ceasefire on Saturday, a big step towards a final peace settlement to one of Africa’s longest-running wars.

“It is the laying down of arms. It is the end of the war,” UN envoy Joaquim Chissano said after the parties signed the “permanent ceasefire” agreement.

With only a demobilisation deal left to be agreed on, negotiators and mediators like Chissano are predicting a final accord will be reached next week to end one of the world’s most macabre and least-understood conflicts.

After a tortuous process since talks began in mid-2006, the speed of progress in recent days has taken observers by surprise, particularly after the LRA delegation walked out at one point this week in a row over cabinet jobs and cash.

The LRA revolt against President Yoweri Museveni since 1986 has devastated north Uganda, killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted nearly 2 million, and become infamous for the brutal methods of the rebels including mutilating victims.

At Saturday’s signing, presided over by chief mediator and South Sudan’s Vice-President Riek Machar, rebel and government delegates embraced each other warmly.—Reuters