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Mali and Tuareg rebels sign peace deal | Mali and Tuareg rebels sign peace deal |
(34 minutes later) | |
Mali's government has signed a peace deal with Tuareg rebels to help pave the way for elections next month. | Mali's government has signed a peace deal with Tuareg rebels to help pave the way for elections next month. |
The accord calls for an immediate ceasefire and for government troops to return to the rebel-held northern town of Kidal, officials said. | |
The rebels captured Kidal after a French-led offensive forced militant Islamists out of the town in January. | |
The Tuaregs have been fighting for autonomy in the north since Mali gained independence from France in 1960. | The Tuaregs have been fighting for autonomy in the north since Mali gained independence from France in 1960. |
They say they are marginalised by the government in the capital, Bamako. | They say they are marginalised by the government in the capital, Bamako. |
The main rebel group which signed the accord, National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), had formed an alliance with al-Qaeda-linked militants to seize the north in 2012. | The main rebel group which signed the accord, National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), had formed an alliance with al-Qaeda-linked militants to seize the north in 2012. |
But the alliance quickly crumbled, and the Islamists took control of the MNLA's strongholds. | |
Government and MNLA negotiators reached the deal after nearly two weeks of talks brokered by Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore in the Burkina capital, Ouagadougou. | |
The army had threatened to seize Kidal if no agreement was reached. | The army had threatened to seize Kidal if no agreement was reached. |
Malian government representative Tiebile Drame said the two sides had overcome their greatest differences. | |
"I think we can say that the biggest task is finished. We have agreed on the essentials," AP news agency quoted him as saying. | |
"There is an international consensus as well as a Malian consensus on the fundamental questions, which include the integrity of our territory, national unity, and the secular and republican nature of our state.'' | |
MNLA spokesman Moussa Ag Attaher confirmed a deal had been reached. | |
"The MNLA and the High Council for the Azawad [the rebel name for northern Mali] have given everything for peace and so we accept this accord,'' AP quoted him as saying. |