MOSCOW (CNN) -- The warring sides in Tajikistan's four-year civil war signed two key accords on Monday aimed at restoring peace by July 1, 1997. The deal, signed in Moscow by President Imomali Rakhmonov, Islamic opposition leader Syed Abdullo Nuri and a United Nations' envoy, also provides for the creation of a national reconciliation commission, to oversee peace efforts.

The Iranian government said Monday the two sides would arrive in Tehran January 5 to begin negotiations to cement peace in Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and many more displaced in fighting between the government and Islamic rebels, further complicated by seething regional and clan rivalries.