Morning Star.png Mali: Tuaregs Sign Partial-Autonomy Treaty Foreign Desk, The Morning Star, London, 22 June 2015 Mali's Tuareg separatist guerillas signed a peace deal with the government on Saturday, drawing three years of civil war to a close. The Co-ordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), the largest coalition of separatist groups in the country, signed the agreement in the capital Bamako. Azawad is the name given by Tuareg rebels to northern Mali, where they have fought to establish an independent state. Sidi Ibrahim Ould Sidatte, who signed the agreement on behalf the CMA, called it "an act of hope" and part of a process toward peace in the north of the country even though it did not address the security issues still destabilising the area. "The agreement recognised that the issue of Azawad is a political problem, that a solution had not been found and should be studied further during the period of transition," he said. The treaty was welcomed by United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki Moon, who declared that the UN stood ready to support the parties in the implementation of the agreement. But he also said that "ultimate responsibility for peace lies with Mali and the Malians." The conflict began in January 2012 when the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad launched an uprising against the government. Two months later, president Amadou Toumani Toure was overthrown by military officers who accused him of mismanaging the war and failing to properly supply the armed forces. France and other NATO and regional nations intervened in the conflict, claiming that the rebels were Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaida. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will fly to Bamako today "to see for himself that the accord is correctly put in place." From: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-2285-Mali-Tuaregs-sign-treaty-giving-no rth-partial-autonomy#.VYjdW_mqqkp -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
