LUSAKA, Zambia -- The enemies who have fought since 1975 for control of Angola signed a treaty here yesterday promising to end the last war in southern Africa and to collaborate in rebuilding their rich and devastated country.
The accord, which calls for the guns to fall silent tomorrow, is the third such pledge to end Angola's relentless fratricide. But it is the first to guarantee a share of power to the UNITA rebel movement, and the first to be backed by plans to deploy thousands of armed U.N. peacekeepers.
Despite the determined optimism put on for the signing, the credibility of the treaty was diminished by the absence of the rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi, who sent word that he was unable to leave his hide-out in Angola because the government would try to kill him.
Even after a truce signed last Tuesday, which was supposed to have created a more trusting climate for yesterday's peace pageant, diplomats said that the Angolan army had continued shelling UNITA positions and that the rebels also had launched attacks.
The treaty was signed yesterday by Gen. Eugenio Manuvakola, a senior guerrilla commander and secretary-general of UNITA, and by Venancio de Moura, the Angolan foreign minister.
Afterward, the UNITA general clutched the foreign minister warmly and then hugged the Angolan president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who had planned to sign for the government but stepped back when Mr. Savimbi failed to appear. The embraces inspired the day's only roar of emotion from the throng of diplomats wilting inside a heavily guarded conference center.
"I pray to God that this will be the last peace agreement on Angola," Alioune Blondin Beye, the U.N. special representative to Angola, said later.
In 1991, the last time Angolans signed a peace deal, it was hailed as fruit of the new world order that emerged after the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union, which had helped finance the warring rivals, helped push them to peace, which lasted about 18 months.
This time, peace in Angola is viewed as a milestone of a different sort: a sign of how southern Africa is moving, against the continental trend, toward reconciliation and democracy.
But how soon Angola -- a country rich in oil and diamonds -- will join South Africa and other neighbors that have turned their attention from violent conflict to economic recovery is a subject of deep skepticism.
The United Nations, which is to police the deal, plans to move cautiously. Only a few dozen monitors will be deployed at first to watch the cease-fire, and only if they are convinced that both sides are abiding by the treaty will they eventually move in about 7,000 peacekeepers.
While participants insisted that the treaty was not devalued by the lack of Mr. Savimbi's signature, his absence raised questions about whether he could muster the trust to disarm his men and claim positions in the government, as the treaty provides.
The treaty text has not been made public, but drafters say it spells out a list of officials UNITA will appoint as a junior participant in the government, including governors in 3 of Angola's 18 provinces, plus Cabinet ministers, ambassadors and mayors.
Although Mr. Savimbi has been widely reported to have been offered the position of vice president, the signers said yesterday said that his role in the future government had not been settled.
Mr. Savimbi, whose exact whereabouts have not been disclosed, was offered safe passage to Lusaka on a U.N. airplane. But his deputies said he did not trust the government to ensure his security.