>
Six armed groups in Mali have reached a ceasefire agreement with the Malian government in a bid to end hostilities in the country. The deal was part of UN-sponsored peace talks aimed at ending the crisis in the country’s north.
The six groups that signed the ceasefire were mostly Tuareg but also included Arab organisations.
Thursday’s ceasefire was signed in the presence of Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and Mongi Hamdi, the head of the 9,300-strong UN peace mission in Mali (MINUSMA). It came during a fifth round of talks in Algiers that started Monday.
Lamamra said the deal, which does not include Al-Qaeda-linked groups, aimed “to create a climate and state of mind on the ground that would help further negotiations leading to a global peace agreement.”
The document states that the Mali government and the armed groups committed themselves to “pursue negotiations in good faith and in a constructive spirit… to tackle sustainably the tensions recently observed on the ground.”