BAMAKO, Mali
Mali's military junta has announced an end to a 2015 peace deal with Tuareg rebels in the country’s north, a move that could further destabilise the Sahel nation.
The peace agreement was aimed
at easing tensions at a time when Tuaregs mounted jihadist violence against the
central government since 2012.
But the agreement has only
been partially implemented.
Military authorities said late
on Thursday that the so-called Algiers Accord, brokered by the United Nations,
had ended with “immediate effect”.
In a statement read on state
television, the junta spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga said it ended the deal
due to other signatories not keeping their commitments and hostility by chief
mediator Algeria.
There has not been any
reaction from the Algerian government.
The rebel group, under the
Coordination of Azawad Movements, said it was not surprised by the decision.
Last month, the armed groups
suspended their participation in the deal pending the "organisation"
of a crisis meeting with the Malian government "on neutral ground”.
The rebels have escalated
attacks in recent months and gained some ground in northern Mali.
But they have also faced an
onslaught from the Malian armed forces, who teamed up with Russian military
contractor Wagner Group and kicked out French forces and the UN peacekeepers.
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