Mozambique's main opposition party Renamo agreed on Wednesday to hand over its weapons and reintegrate its armed men into the Mozambican army and security forces after its talks with the Frelimo-led government, which is applauded by the government delegation as a strong indication towards disarmament.

This followed a contested demand during Monday's discussions when Renamo demanded as conditions for its disarmament the appointment of its officials to top positions in the country's armed forces.

"It's important to understand that Renamo has not yet accepted to be disarmed, what happens is that they accepted to give in their weapons, the same happened in the 1992 agreement but Renamo continued to be a militarized party which in the last months has demonstrated to have a potential to damage the country and kill innocent people," deputy head of the government delegation Gabriel Muthisse said.

"What we want this time is to make sure they give in their weapons, abandon the military component and act as a political party only," added Muthisse, who is also the minister of transports and communications.

The two delegations discussed the terms of reference for the international observers towards the end of ambushes against armed forces and civilians, particularly in the central Sofala province.

"The government is determined to include in the terms of reference a clause that will demilitarize the main opposition, but we also recognize that by accepting to give in its weapons it reveals a huge step forward in our dialogue," said Muthisse.

According to him, the consensus reached on Wednesday can lead to the finalization of the terms of reference to invite the selected countries to start sending military observers to Mozambique to supervise the cease-fire and reintegration of Renamo forces.

"They have appropriate techniques and procedures to evaluate if a party which was previously armed has disarmed or not," Muthisse said when referring to the international observers.

Saimone Macuiana, head of Renamo delegation said that Wednesday's talks were fruitful although not concluded. "From today's negotiations it was clearer the role that the international military observers will have in Mozambique. They will have to follow the active participation of Renamo in the army and security forces," said Macuiana.

Macuiana added that there are still some aspects to be discussed about the withdrawal of the government forces from the fighting zones.

"We want it to be clear that it is a withdrawal while the government defends that the return of the army to the barracks is enough to refer to a withdrawal," said Macuiana, adding that there will be a re-organization of the army and security forces and with help of all sides he hopes the process will be finalized in the next round of talks.