MALI-SECURITY Mali rebels agree to security deal as step to peace accord - UN

Record ID: 150172

  • Title: MALI-SECURITY Mali rebels agree to security deal as step to peace accord - UN
  • Date: 5th June 2015
  • Summary: TIN FADIMATA, MALI (RECENT - MAY 26, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FIGHTERS FROM THE CO-ORDINATION OF AZAWAD MOVEMENTS (CMA) IN PICK-UP TRUCKS DRIVING CMA FIGHTER FIRING MOUNTED MACHINE GUN FROM PICK-UP TRUCK CMA FIGHTER RUNNING TO BUSH CMA FIGHTER FIRING A ROCKET AS GUNFIRE HEARD MACHINE GUN BEING FIRED FROM TRUCK CMA FIGHTER CRAWLING WITH WEAPON
  • Embargoed: 20th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mali
  • Country: Mali
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7JA8WSOHZZ7UVEMBVXNBZ8O6F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Mali's Tuareg-led rebels have agreed to a local ceasefire which could pave the way towards a UN-brokered peace agreement to end decades of uprisings in the north of the country.
    According to a UN envoy the agreement was made on Friday (June 05) and includes more political guarantees for the rebel alliance, known as the Co-ordination of Azawad Movements (CMA).
    Mali's government accepted a broad U.N.-brokered accord in March, but the rebel coalition delayed a final signing, saying it fell short of their demands, as fighting continued in the region that separatists call Azawad.
    U.N. envoy Mongi Hamdi said one arrangement called for a ceasefire in the northern town of Menaka and the withdrawal of pro-Bamako armed groups from the area, to be replaced temporarily by U.N. security. Hamdi said he hoped a final agreement would be signed on June 20 in the capital, Bamako.
    Pro-government armed groups seized Menaka from Tuareg separatists in April during fierce fighting that has complicated international efforts to get a final peace agreement.
    Footage filmed by Reuters recently also showed heavy battles in an area known as Tin Fadimata, which is 30 kilometres from Menaka. At the time local fighters voiced their doubt on whether a peace deal could bring an end to the fighting, as they accused the government of not doing enough to recognise the rights of the Azawad people.
    "Mali's objective is to create a war with the Azawadians, favouring some mentalities that are unhealthy for the unity between Azawad inhabitants. They (the government) are only making the problem worse," said the operations chief for the CMA, Aladi Muhammad, who was speaking on May 26.
    "I only see war as the solution because apparently Mali doesn't have anything else to propose to us. They just want to fight us," he added.
    Western powers are pushing for a conclusive accord, fearing that continued instability will allow Islamist militants to return to the north, from where a French military intervention drove them out.
    Tuaregs have risen up four times since Mali's independence from France in 1960 to demand some form of self-rule.
    The Algiers document in March proposed more devolved powers for the north, a regional security force and a special development plan. But it left the issue of Azawad's political identity for a national debate between Malian parties.
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