ALGIERS \u2014 The head of Mali’s main Tuareg-led rebel groups said Friday his movement will sign a final deal on June 20 to end the conflict in the west African nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) headed by Bilal Ag Acherif initialed a peace agreement with the Malian government on May 14 but held out on a final deal until some changes were made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We will sign the peace accord on June 20,” Acherif said following talks in Algiers on security issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UN envoy for Mali Mongi Hamdi welcomed the announcement, but cautioned that the hardest part was still to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The most difficult phase will be to implement” the agreement, he told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a document seen by AFP the signing ceremony will be held in Bamako.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will come more than three weeks after the government and several armed groups signed the so-called “Algiers Accord” on May 15, which was spurned by the CMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That deal aims to bring stability to northern Mali, cradle of several Tuareg uprisings since the 1960s and a stronghold for jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acherif and government representatives have been holding talks in Algiers over the past few days to thrash out security and political concerns raised by the CMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Friday they are expected to sign two documents in Algiers, aimed at stopping hostilities across Mali and “to resolve the situation in Menaka,” said Hamdi<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was referring to a flashpoint town in the northern desert seized from rebels by pro-government fighters in April, which has seen an uptick in violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bamako government said Thursday one of the documents to be signed concerns “security arrangements”, paving the way for the implementation of a final agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of these documents indicates that the CMA would obtain guarantees to ensure that populations in the north would be represented in government institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CMA is also expected to have its members included in a security force for the north, according to the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CMA has been demanding that an amended final deal recognize “Azawad,” the name used by the Tuareg for the northern part of Mali, as a “geographic, political and juridical entity”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Algiers Accord calls for the creation of elected regional assemblies but not autonomy or federalism, in deference to government concerns of separatism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mali was shaken by a coup in 2012 which cleared the way for Tuareg separatists to seize the towns and cities of the vast northern desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Al-Qaeda-linked militants then overpowered the Tuareg, taking control of northern Mali for nearly 10 months until they were ousted in a French-led military offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Mali remains deeply divided, with the Tuareg and Arab populations of the north accusing sub-Saharan ethnic groups in the more prosperous south of marginalizing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Northern Mali has seen an upsurge in attacks by pro-government militias and various factions of the Tuareg-led rebellion, leaving many dead on both sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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