The forum "is not a tribunal, even less a place to settle old scores," said former president Ange-Felix Patasse who returned home Sunday after five years in exile in Togo to participate in the talks.

"We must seize this rare moment," Patasse said. And this should not be just a matter for the government and the democratic opposition, let alone "bourgeois intellectuals," he added.

Patasse was speaking at the opening ceremony for the peace talks in the National Assembly alongside President Francois Bozize and his Gabonese counterpart Omar Bongo, who has led mediation efforts in the country.

Originally scheduled for June, the talks are expected to last through to December 20 and include the government, opposition groups, rebels and members of the civilian population.

The leader of the the country's main rebel group, the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD), who spent six years living in exile in France, began his address by apologising for his past actions.

"I ask for forgiveness from all those who I have done wrong to," said Jean-Jacques Demafouth, adding that the forum offered the country "the chance to rid itself of evil...

"I hope that we will listen to each other and that together we can form a peace pact for Central African people," he added.

The government signed a ceasefire and a peace accord earlier in the day with one of the country's rebel movements, the Movement of the Central African Liberators for Justice (MLCJ), as a prelude to the talks.

Immediately afterwards its leader Captain Abacar Sabone said: "If today we are reunited it is because this country faces many problems created by ourselves and we will resolve them ourselves.

"The MLCJ promise to completely renounce our armed struggle so we can take part in the political process," he added.

Gabonese President Bongo called for a "sincere" dialogue "which would allow the Central African Republic to rewrite its history, rather than let history repeat itself."

President Bozize, who first came to power in the Central African Republic in a 2003 coup before being elected in 2005 said Monday's dialogue was "in the interests of the nation."

Around 500 people convened Monday around a semi-circular table for the first day of talks, chaired by former Burundi president Pierre Buyoya, amid heavy security.

One of the world's poorest countries, the Central African Republic has been racked for years by insecurity, with rebel groups, bandits and government troops blamed for widespread criminal activity.

The country also faces serious financial and social problems: its civil servants are still waiting for months of back pay.

Following mediation efforts by Gabon, the government signed four peace accords with rebel groups between February 2007 and June 2008.

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