Mali rebels sign peace deal

ALGIERS ACCORD AIMS TO BRING STABILITY TO THE COUNTRY’S VAST NORTHERN DESERT REGION

Mali’s Tawareqled rebel alliance signed a landmark deal on Saturday to end years of unrest in a nation riven by ethnic divisions and in the grip of an Islamist insurgency.

The Algiers Accord aims to bring stability to the country’s vast northern desert, cradle of several Tawareq uprisings since the 1960s and a sanctuary for Islamist fighters linked to Al Qaida.

The agreement had already been signed in May by the government and loyalist militias but the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), a coalition of rebel groups, had been holding out until amendments were agreed.

Cheers broke out as Sidi Ebrahim Ould Sidati, a member of the Arab Movement of Azawad, put his name to the document on behalf of the CMA in a televised ceremony at a packed conference hall in the capital Bamako.

“Trust me — we will make sure that no one is disappointed. We will build a brotherly Mali together,” President Ebrahim Boubacar Keita told an audience of northern community leaders and international sponsors. “Today is a great day for all us children of Mali.”

Ramtane Lamamra, the foreign minister of Algeria, which has been leading international efforts to mediate the peace talks, hailed “a new beginning, a new opportunity and a new destiny for this great Malian nation”.

The peace accord, hammered out over months under the auspices of the UN, calls for the creation of elected regional assemblies but stops short of autonomy or federalism for northern Mali, known by locals as Azawad.

The Malian government and several armed groups signed the document on May 15 in Bamako, in a ceremony spurned by the CMA.

The rebels finally agreed to commit on June 5 after winning a stipulation that its fighters be included in a security force for the north, and for residents of the region to be represented better in government institutions, among other concessions.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated the signatories and mediation team pledging his support for its implementation.

AFP A push for peace Mali’s President Ebrahim Boubacar Keita (left) greets Mahamadou Djery Maiga, vice-president and spokesman of the Transitional Council of the State of Azawad, following the signing of the amended version of the Algerian Accord in Bamako.