PRESIDENT Pascal Lissouba and the leader of a private militia yesterday called for a ceasefire between their forces to end fighting that has devastated the capital.
"I'm ordering a ceasefire from this moment," the President of Republic of Congo said on national radio. His bitter rival, Gen Denis Sassou-Nguesso, went on his own private radio to announce that he too, had agreed to a ceasefire.
There was no way of determining how widely observed the calls were, but French soldiers, journalists and hundreds of civilians seeking shelter had to dive for cover when a burst of automatic rifle fire erupted near their base at the international airport minutes after the announcements.
Nobody was injured, but it left 400 civilians badly shaken.
Fighting between forces loyal to the two men broke out last Thursday when Mr Lissouba sent in troops to disarm Gen Sassou Nguesso's private militia, the Cobras. Mr Lissouba had sought to immobilise the militia in the runup to next month's presidential election, apparently fearing Gen Sassou Nguesso would use his forces to foment civil unrest and hurt Mr Lissouba's chances of winning reelection.
Heavy fighting with mortars, machine guns and grenades pounded Brazzaville until daylight, when it subsided slightly. French troops ventured into the city to pick up stranded civilians, including many crowded at the French ambassador's residence and carried them back to the international airport's private Aeroclub.
The bullets that flew through the Aeroclub and sent people scrambling for cover may have been errant shots from fighting nearby, or they may have been intended to provoke the French soldiers and sabotage peace efforts, said a French military spokesman, Col Henry Pelissier.
"What we don't want is to be forced into firing on to one side or the other because then we will be accused of taking sides," said Col Pelissier.
The ceasefire announcements followed mediation by opposition leader Mr Bernard Kolelas, who had predicted a truce earlier yesterday after being in contact with both men. Mr Kolelas himself is the leader of a private militia that was involved in fighting in 1993 that left 2,000 people dead. This time, Mr Kolelas has stayed out of the fighting, which grew to encompass most of the riverside city and prompted thousands of foreigners to flee.
The current violence has its roots in the country's transition to multiparty democracy in 1991, which ended more than a decade of dictatorship under Gen Sassou Nguesso.