Mali: Tebboune receives ex-rebel signatories of the peace agreement

The Algerian president received on Sunday former Malian rebels who had signed an important peace agreement signed in 2015 under the aegis of Algiers, who said they were seeking to break the "impasse" and the "status quo" in full access of tension with the authorities of Bamako.

Algeria, which shares some 1,400 km of borders with its southern neighbour, took an active part in the peace agreement signed in 2015 with the independence rebellion to end the war in Mali.

This peace agreement, which provides in particular for decentralization measures and the integration of ex-rebels into the national army, is only very little implemented.

The alliance of separatist and separatist groups, the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), announced in December that it was suspending its participation in the application of the agreement, arguing the "persistent lack of political will" of the ruling junta.

International mediation, with Algeria in a prominent role, has been working for weeks to bring the parties together.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune received on Sunday in Algiers the leaders and representatives of "political movements of the Republic of Mali" , who have been visiting the country for several days, according to the official Algerian agency APS.

Welcoming the role played by Algeria in "solving the problems in Mali" , a spokesperson for the Malian movements indicated that the meeting had made it possible to underline Algeria's firm commitment to a "new dynamics of peace in the region" , according to remarks reported by the official agency.

The CMA in a press release said it had discussed its expectations and priorities, and developed "possible solutions that can help break the impasse and the current status quo" .

President Tebboune reaffirmed Algeria's strong commitment to Malians "on all sides" in order to reach "an agreement on the diligence of a common impetus with stricter guarantees" , continues the press release.

For several months, the CMA has denounced the "failure" of the Algiers peace agreement and called on its international guarantors to "avoid a definitive break" with Bamako. The Malian junta in power had expressed its desire to apply the peace agreement after receiving mediation ambassadors in mid-February.

At the beginning of February, Amadou Albert Maïga , a member of the National Council of the Transition (CNT) which acts as a legislative body, declared that the Malian army would soon begin operations to restore the authority of the central State over Kidal ( north), a strategic city controlled by the CMA. "War is inevitable in Kidal ," he said.

This peace agreement, more and more publicly considered obsolete by some Malians, is nevertheless considered to be an essential component of a return to political and military stability in this immense country destabilized by a conflict since the outbreak, in 2012, of separatist and jihadist insurgencies in the north.

If the former independence rebellion had stopped fighting with the 2015 peace agreement. The jihadists continue to fight the Malian army and their violence has spread to central Mali, as well as to Burkina Faso and neighboring Niger