News
Mali: Talks between government and Tuareg separatists underway
Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was elected last year partly for his reputation for taking a firm stand against previous uprisings, and is under pressure from the more densely populated south not to give in to the separatist movement’s demands.
Talks advanced in June after a preliminary accord. But analysts said the separatists had to make concrete, coherent proposals and overcome splits in their ranks.
According to an observer, an agreement was possible in Algiers, but a deal signed outside Mali would not necessarily carry weight with the fragmented separatist movement on the ground.
“An agreement is only one step in a much longer process, and a deal itself will not guarantee or even potentially lead to a resolution to the various conflicts in northern Mali,” he said.
Regional and international troops were dispatched to Mali last year to force back al-Qaeda linked Islamist militants who occupied swathes of northern Mali.
Source: Reuters
