LIBREVILLE, September 13, 2008 (AFP) - Peace talks between the government of the Central African Republic and a leading rebel group are set to resume in Gabon Monday after collapsing in August, the group's leader told AFP on Saturday.

'I think we will really begin the talks on Monday. The government's delegation should arrive today (Saturday) in the afternoon,' said the leader of the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD), Jean-Jacques Demafouth.

The former defence minister, who will not travel to the CAR because he faces charges there of 'murder and complicity to murder', arrived in the Gabonese capital of Libreville on Thursday.

According to Demafouth, the United Nations special representative to the Central African Republic, Francois Lonseny Fall, will also participate in talks.

On August 1, the APRD withdrew from peace discussions due under a June agreement, after opposing draft amnesty legislation being discussed in parliament, among other grievances.

Demafouth said crimes 'pertinent to the International Criminal Court's competence' should not be covered by an amnesty, though the rebel leader, living in exile in France, would himself have benefitted.

He heads both the rebel group and the New Alliance for Progress (NAP) party, the creation of which Centrafrican authorities approved in August.

Last week the government accused the APRD of killing 16 civilians in the northeast of the country.

One of the world's poorest nations, the Central African Republic is plagued by insecurity in its northern territories, where rebels and bandits have been battling government troops since President Francois Bozize's election victory in 2005.