CAfrica Govt Steps Down as Violence Erupts Despite Peace Deal

The government of the strife-torn Central African Republic resigned on Tuesday as part of a peace deal reached last month with Christian and Muslim rebel factions, interim president Catherine Samba-Panza said.

The deal, signed in Brazzaville after weeks of talks, is the first part of a wider peace agreement to end violence in which thousands have died and nearly a quarter of the population have been driven from their homes since a March 2013 coup.

The head of the interim government appointed in January, prime minister Andre Nzapayeke, 62, is a technocrat and former banker.

Despite the peace accord, tensions remain high in the country where several Seleka militiamen were killed on Tuesday in a clash with French peacekeepers in the north.

Last week, at least 22 died in fighting between the ex-rebel Seleka and mainly-Christian anti-balaka fighters.