Algeria faces obstacles over Mali reconciliation success

Algeria chaired, since July 2014, four rounds of negotiations between the various Malian parties, and did not result in anything positive points, because of the intransigence of each party, and its adherence to their positions, before launching the fifth round, but the reasons for the postponement of the restoration of stability in northern Mali remain unchanged, and could undermine the international community’s efforts that are led by Algeria.

These groups are negotiating with the government of Bamako in order to obtain an exceptional legal status for the “Azawad” area, which is more like a political situation that condition that ranges between the federation that is claimed by these groups, and the political situation that is characterized by a degree of flexibility and autonomy, which is provided Bamako, and which is keen to retain full sovereignty over the territory of the Malian Republic that is undivided under misleading autonomy.

Perhaps the most important obstacles before the mediation efforts are the lack of security in this region since January 2012, the date of the outbreak of war, where security is largely absent, in the daily life of Malians, as the French military intervention in January 2013 hampered the progress of Djihadists, and was enough to fill the security vacuum.

Since the end of January, and ahead of the fifth round of the comprehensive dialogue in Algeria between the authorities in Bamako and the rebels in the north, the percentage of violence in the region reached record levels, especially in the north of the country, where a large number of wounded was recorded since the beginning of 2015, on the impact of armed attacks or suicide operations or ambushes, an indicator that the central authorities take full responsibility in Bamako, and the central government called upon the Northern governors.