BRAZZAVILLE -- The Republic of Congo has granted an amnesty to "Ninja" rebels, opening the way for the militiamen to come out of the jungles and possibly lay down arms, parliamentary officials said.

Fighting in the oil-producing Central African nation has largely subsided since the government and rebels signed a peace deal in March. Some Ninjas have started disarming, but many remain in the dense forests of Congo's southern Pool region, Reuters reported.

Parliament approved the amnesty in an almost unanimous vote on Thursday.

The amnesty covers both forces loyal to President Denis Sassou Nguesso and the Ninjas, who take their name from an ancient band of Japanese warriors made popular by Hollywood.

Human rights groups have accused both sides of abuses.

The rebels, led by renegade pastor Frederik Ntoumi, had called for talks between the government and exiled opposition leaders Pascal Lissouba and Bernard Kolelas, who Sassou ousted as president and prime minister after a bloody 1997 civil war.

Some members of Parliament opposed the amnesty, saying it should have been extended to cover Lissouba and Kolelas, both condemned to death in absentia by a Congolese court.

The conflict, which forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, is rooted in a long power-struggle between the more densely populated agricultural south and Sassou's north, a land of hunters and fighters.

At times the fighting severed rail links between the riverside capital, Brazzaville, and the coastal port of Pointe-Noire, the hub of Congo's 250,000 barrels-per-day oil industry.