The deal, signed in the presence of President Laurent Kabila by the government, the three main rebel groups and their respective allies, resolved the issue of control over the army once a new government is in place.

"I sincerely hope this is the end of the war," Kabila said at the signing ceremony, which took place a day before the central African state celebrates 43 years of independence from Belgium.

"I hope that this accord and the establishment of a transitional government will mean that a lasting peace has come to (DR) Congo," said Moustapha Niasse, the former Senegalese prime minister who mediated the negotiations.

Niasse invited all the country's residents to "lend their support to the peace process, the government and the president."

The interim government was provided for under a peace pact signed in December in South Africa to end over four years of war in the DRC, which drew in a dozen African nations at its height and killed some 2.5 million people, either directly in combat or indirectly through disease and hunger.

"This is a great day and a historic event because together, we all reached a vital military accord on the eve of the anniversary of our independence," the representative of the main rebel group Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), Moise Nyarugabo, told AFP.

"The interests of the nation came above the interests of the individual parties," he added.

During the signing ceremony, Kabila appealed directly to Nyarugabo: "Mr. Moise, I hope that this is the end of the war."

The representative of the main rebel group said that there was no longer any fighting in the east of the country.

"The trend is towards a detente. All the decisions to come, including the nomination of the government, will work towards this detente," Nyarugabo said.

"All Congolese have the same past. I hope that we will have the same future," he added.

Sources in Kinshasa said that Kabila could later Sunday name the members of the transitional government that is to lead the vast country to free elections.

The agreement calls for government representatives to hold the post of overall commander of the army and head the air force, sources close to the negotiations said.

The RCD will command ground forces, and the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) rebel group will command naval forces, the sources said.

WAR.WIRE