OUAGADOUGOU, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The Malian government and Tuareg rebels on Tuesday afternoon signed a truce agreement in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The government and the separatist MNLA and HCA rebels inked the deal at 4:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) in the presence of...
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Malian gov't, Tuareg rebels sign truce agreement
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Secretary-General Hails Signing of Mali Peace Agreement Providing for Immediate Ceasefire (18 June 2013) SG/SM/15118-AFR/2648 (UN - United Nations)
(Source: UN - United Nations) The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: The Secretary-General welcomes the signing of an agreement between the Government of Mali, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawadand the...
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Mali detains activists for planning protest against talks with Tuareg
BAMAKO - Malian police arrested 21 activists on Monday accused of planning a march against a proposed compromise deal between the government and Tuareg rebels which would pave the way for nationwide elections. The arrests come with talks taking place in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou to persuade the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), who want autonomy for their...
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Mali and Tuareg rebels sign peace deal
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...
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Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on the signing of Mali Peace Agreement [Scroll down for the French version] (UN - United Nations)
(Source: UN - United Nations) Latest Statements New York, 18 June 2013 - Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on the signing of Mali Peace Agreement [Scroll down for the French version] The Secretary-General welcomes the signing of an agreement between the Government of Mali, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad and the High Council for the Unity of Azawad on 18 June in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The agreement provides for an immediate...
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Green light for elections in Mali?
At the end of July Malians will elect a new president. Yet the government is still not in full control of the northern part of the country. A deal signed with Tuareg rebels is expected to change that. Azawad is the name used for northern Mali by members of the Tuareg ethnic group. It is also a name they want to give an independent state, for which they have been fighting for years. For the Malian government, the name has been synonymous with a rallying cry used by separatists. The appearance of the word Azawad in the agreement signed on Tuesday (18.06.2013) by the Tuareg rebels and the Malian government can therefore be regarded as a success for the "National Movement for the Liberation of...
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Security Council Press Statement on Mali (20 June 2013) SC/11040-AFR/2651 (UN - United Nations)
(Source: UN - United Nations) The following Security Council press statement was issued on 19 June by Council President Mark Lyall Grant ( United Kingdom): The members of the Security Council welcome the signing in Ouagadougou on 18 June 2013 of a "Preliminary Agreement to the Presidential Election and the Inclusive Peace Talks in Mali"...
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Mali: UN envoy welcomes accord between Government and Tuareg rebels (UN - United Nations)
(Source: UN - United Nations) Mali: UN envoy welcomes accord between Government and Tuareg rebels Special Representative for Mali Bert Koenders. Photo: MINUSMA/Blagoje Grujic 18 June 2013 - The United Nations envoy for Mali welcomed the signing today of an agreement between the Malian Government and Tuareg rebels that paves the way for inclusive peace talks as well as presidential elections next month. "This is a crucial first step, it is...
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Mali: UN envoy welcomes accord between Government and Tuareg rebels
Print 18 June 2013 The United Nations envoy for Mali welcomed the signing today of an agreement between the Malian Government and Tuareg rebels that paves the way for inclusive peace talks as well as presidential elections next month. “This is a crucial first step, it is now important that the signatories are looking to the future and continue their efforts, hand in hand, for a practical...
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Mali: UN Welcomes Accord Between Government, Tuareg Rebels
Wednesday, 19 June 2013, 10:21 am Press Release: UN News Mali: UN Envoy Welcomes Accord Between Government and Tuareg Rebels New York, Jun 18 2013 - The United Nations envoy for Mali welcomed the signing today of an agreement between the Malian Government and Tuareg rebels that paves the way for inclusive peace talks as well as presidential elections next month. “This is a crucial first step, it is now...
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Mali: Switzerland welcomes the preliminary peace agreement (Swiss Federal Council)
(Source: Swiss Federal Council) 19.06.2013 Switzerland welcomes the "preliminary agreement for presidential elections and inclusive peace negotiations in Mali" that was adopted on Tuesday, 18 June 2013, by the government of Mali, on one side, and the National Liberation Movement of Azawad (MNLA) and the High Council for Unity of Azawad (HCUA), on the other. This text establishes a ceasefire and paves the way for presidential elections in the whole of Mali. It is the culmination of many months of negotiations between the conflicting...
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FCO Minister Mark Simmonds welcomes Mali peace agreement (British Prime Minister's Office)
(Source: British Prime Minister's Office) I welcome the announcement of the peace agreement signed in Ouagadougou last night between the Malian transitional authorities and groups representing communities in northern Mali, the National Movement for the Liberation of...
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Mali Islamist rebels urge dialog, halt to hostilities
OUAGADOUGOU — Ansar Dine, an Islamist group occupying northern Mali, called Tuesday for other fighters to join them in political dialog, as military chiefs plot strategies to expel the extremists by force. As diplomatic efforts for a military solution to the Islamist occupation of Mali’s vast arid north intensify, Ansar Dine has dispatched envoys to Burkina Faso and Algeria in a bid to negotiate an end to the crisis. After meeting with the chief regional mediator, Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, the Ansar Dine delegation urged “all the armed movements” to follow its lead with the aim of establishing “an inclusive political dialog.” In a declaration read by envoy Mohamed Aharid, they...
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Islamist group Ansar Dine agrees to talks on Mali crisis
AFP - Mali's Islamist rebels agreed Monday to start talks on the fate of the desert north they seized this year but mediators Burkina Faso said the group should sever all ties with its Al-Qaeda backers. Ansar Dine joined forces with a Tuareg rebel group to conquer the entire northern half of Mali in early April, effectively partitioning the landlocked west African country and raising fears of regional destabilisation. Regional bloc ECOWAS has a 3,300-strong force on standby to help reunite Mali, which was...
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Mali army reinforces positions at town retaken from Tuareg rebels
BAMAKO - Mali's army on Thursday reinforced its positions at Anefis, a strategic access point for the rebel-held town of Kidal, after a day of heavy fighting, military sources said. "We are reinforcing and consolidating our positions at Anefis while waiting for favourable conditions to pursue the operation" towards Kidal in the northeast, army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Souleymane Maiga said. "Since yesterday (Wednesday), the whole Anefis sector has...
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North Mali Islamists to Meet Top Crisis Mediator
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Representatives of Ansar Dine, one of the armed Islamist groups in northern Mali, are to meet lead mediator Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore Tuesday, as plans for military action take shape. Mediators are trying to get Ansar Dine to break ties with its jihadist allies — Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), long seen as an AQIM splinter group. The groups took over a large swathe of northern Mali in the wake of a March coup attempt in the country’s capital...
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Will 'historic' ceasefire help put Mali back together again?
After months of destabilization caused by war, Mali has signed a ceasefire with separatist Tuareg rebels who hold towns in the remote north – clearing the way for national elections to be held in July. “The agreement provides for an immediate ceasefire, paves the way for the holding of presidential elections nationwide and commits the parties to discussing sustainable peace in Mali,” said a spokesperson for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon after 10 days of negotiations in nearby Burkina Faso. Under the deal, Malian troops would gradually begin to occupy the northern stronghold of Kidal, now held by various Tuareg rebels groups. Tension between Malian authorities and Tuareg rebels have been a...
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Mali's Ansar Dine Islamists in humanitarian aid deal
One of the Islamist groups in northern Mali has agreed to allow humanitarian aid groups into its territory. Ansar Dine's announcement was made after talks with the regional mediator, Burkina Faso's leader Blaise Compaore. The militants also agreed to commit to peace talks with Mali's government and observe a ceasefire. Last month, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution paving the way for an African force to end the Islamists' occupation of northern Mali. Few aid groups have had access to...
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Mali mediator vows talks with rebels
Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, the lead mediator in Mali's ongoing crisis, said on Sunday that he would form a “dialogue framework” for inclusive talks between Bamako and armed groups from the country's north. The framework would “determine the agenda for inclusive...
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Mali talks with mediator begin
West African mediator Blaise Compaore began talks on Saturday with Malian politicians and the military junta that briefly seized power last month to resolve the country's crisis. Compaore, president of Burkina Faso, said the talks in Ouagadougou were aimed at finalising an accord reached last week for a return to civilian rule and finding ways to end a rebellion that has left the north of the country in the hands of Tuareg separatist and Islamist groups. Meanwhile the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which named Compaore its mediator, said it had asked regional leaders to approve a troop deployment to end the rebellion....
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