Algeria calls for Mali peace deal to be duly initialed on May 15th

International mediators in the Mali conflict led by Algeria have urged all parties at issue to sign a peace and reconciliation agreement at a ceremony on May 15 in Bamako, a statement said.

Mediators meeting in Algiers to review progress on the accord, “invite and encourage all political-military movements… to proceed by duly signing the agreement”, the statement underlined.

Peace talks begun in Algiers last July resulted last month in a deal between the Malian government and some armed groups, but not by the main Tuareg rebel alliance known as the Coordination for the Movements of Azawad (CMA), which wanted amendments to be brought to the final peace deal.

Armed extremists seized control of northern Mali for more than nine months in 2012 until a French-led military intervention in 2013 partly drove them from the region.

“The ongoing peace process in Mali must continue in a way that would consolidate the gains achieved so far,” the Saturday statement said.

It also threatened to apprise “the international bodies concerned about any behaviour or action likely to jeopardize the ongoing peace process”.

On April 10, the UN Security Council urged the CMA to initial the deal along with the other parties at issue or face tough sanctions.

The world body had hailed the March 1 peace accord as a “historic opportunity” for Mali to restore peace and stability throughout the country.

The accord negotiated under UN auspices in Algiers provides for greater regional autonomy for northern Mali  in line with long-standing demands by Tuaregs and other political-military groups.

The CMA Coordination said in a statement overnight that it could not accept the accord without “amendments” that it had submitted.

These include demands such as the “official recognition of Azawad (the name used by Tuaregs for the northern part of the country) as a geographic, political and juridical entity”.

On Thursday, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop urged the council to put pressure on the Coordination to accept the accord and warned that a collapse of the peace effort would have “enormous risks” for Mali and the region.

The Malian government and a coalition of armed groups from the north known as the Platform have signed on to the accord, brokered by Algeria under UN auspices over the past eight months.

Wednesday’s ceremony to initial the agreement was to be followed soon afterwards by a formal signing.

The Coordination “once more reiterates its wish that the amendments that it submitted to the international mission… be taken into account”.

A delegation of international and African diplomats who came to Kidal, the Coordination’s northern stronghold, on March 17 rejected the additional demands, as did the Bamako government.