Mali: signatories of the peace agreement meet in a former rebel town

The signatories of a fragile peace agreement deemed vital to end the conflict in Mali met Thursday in the northern town of Kidal, a former rebel stronghold, an AFP journalist said.

The city fell to Tuareg separatists in 2012, who captured much of northern Sahel state before jihadist groups requisitioned their rebellion.

Islamist fighters have since spread the conflict to central Mali as well as neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, killing thousands.

In an attempt to curb the fighting, Mali signed an agreement in Algiers with several rebel groups in 2015 – an agreement seen as one of the country’s few options for escaping violence.

Mali. By Vincent LEFAI (AFP)

The deal, among others, saw rebel militias begin to cooperate with the military and provides for the decentralization of governance in the vast country of 19 million people.

But the implementation of the agreement has been painfully slow: Malian troops only returned to Kidal last year, for example.

On Thursday, the signatories of the Algiers agreement met in Kidal, during their first meeting of this type in the symbolic city.

Diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Algeria neighboring Mali were also present.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told participants via video conference that the Kidal conference was proof of a recent “positive momentum” in the fight against violence in the semi-arid Sahel region.

The meeting also precedes a political summit in the Sahel.

The region’s former colonial power, France, the G5 Sahel – a military alliance comprising Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Niger and Mali – are due to meet in Chad on February 15 and 16.