The Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) -- the most powerful armed rebel group in the CAR -- has been embroiled in infighting since one of its leaders announced an end to hostilities and called for talks with the government.

"The Central African government... encourages all CPC leaders to return in earnest to the overall peace and security process," Jean Willybiro-Sako, a minister in charge of overseeing a 2019 peace and reconciliation agreement, said in a statement on Thursday.

At the end of July, Ali Darassa, who at the time was chief of general staff of the CPC, announced that he was "putting an end to all hostilities throughout" the country, signalling his openness to return to the negotiating table.

His declaration was made public two days after President Faustin Archange Touadera called on the rebels to "lay down their arms", assuring them the CAR would "welcome them back with open arms".

That prompted the CPC's chief, exiled ex-president Francois Bozize, to dismiss Darassa, citing "notorious indiscipline" and "conduct and actions opposed to the coalition's objectives".

Willybiro-Sako urged Darassa -- who is sanctioned by the United Nations for "numerous crimes and exactions against civilians" -- to join the process, nonetheless.

In a statement, the minister asked the rebel general to "officially designate his representatives for the next stages of the process" and to take stock of the military personnel and resources at his disposal in order to disarm and demobilise them.

The second-least developed country in the world according to the UN, the CAR has been engulfed in civil war since 2013.

That began after Bozize -- who seized power in 2003 in a coup -- was in turn ousted by a Muslim-dominated armed coalition called the Seleka.

Now living in exile in Guinea-Bissau, Bozize is the target of an arrest warrant issued by a United Nations-sponsored tribunal in the CAR for possible crimes against humanity.

The intensity of the fighting has dropped considerably since 2018, with the UN Security Council lifting last month an arms embargo introduced in 2013.

It nonetheless maintained a ban on arms sales to armed groups operating in the CAR for another year.

The UN Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic says that 4,800 individuals have already handed in their weapons.

Yet the former French colony still suffers bouts of violence by rebel groups as well as conflict over its resources, which include gold and diamonds.