Mali GovT, Tuaregs Reach Ceasefire Deal

{{A Malian government delegation and Tuareg separatist rebels have reached an agreement “in principle” that would allow planned elections in July to go ahead in the disputed northern Kidal region, a senior mediator in the talks said.}}

Negotiations in the capital of neighboring Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, opened on Saturday, after Mali’s army last week began advancing towards Kidal, the MNLA rebels’ last stronghold in the remote northeast, in the first direct fighting in months.

France launched a massive military campaign in January which broke al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters’ control over the northern two-thirds of Mali. However it allowed the Tuaregs to regain control of their traditional fiefdom.

The government has made clear that it wants civil administration and the army to return to Kidal before elections scheduled for July 28 and had threatened to seize the town if no agreement was reached by Monday.

“On the point concerning the deployment of Malian armed forces in the region of Kidal, we have obtained an agreement in principle,” Djibril Bassole, Burkina’s foreign minister, told journalists following a round of meetings.

“The two sides have requested a few hours to report back to their bases … in order to be able to come back tomorrow for the final adoption of this document,” he said.

Mali’s Tuareg community has for decades demanded greater political autonomy from the southern capital Bamako and more spending on development for the impoverished region, which they call Azawad.

{reuters}