Rebel Alliance Says Mali Peace Deal 'Fundamentally Flawed'
Mali's Tuareg-led rebels described a proposed peace deal with the government as "fundamentally flawed" in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse on Monday summarizing days of their discussions on the accord.
The Algiers Agreement, hammered out over eight months of tough negotiations in Algeria, was proposed in order to bring a lasting peace and transfer significant powers to an area of northern desert the size of Texas that the rebels refer to as "Azawad".
It has been signed by the government and smaller armed groups but the rebel alliance -- in meetings with its members in the northern Tuareg stronghold of Kidal since Wednesday last week -- said it considered the agreement "fundamentally flawed" as a response to the demands of the region's people.
Sources close to the rebel conference and European diplomatic insiders said the statement merely reflected a summary of views expressed during discussions.
The rebels' declaration does not represent a final decision on whether they will accept or reject the deal, the sources said.
In the statement, the rebels call for "recognition and compensation by the state of Mali for the crimes committed since 1963 in Azawad" and "recognition of Azawad as a political, legal and territorial entity."
The Algiers Agreement uses the name "Azawad" to refer to northern Mali, but does not give the designation any specific political significance.
A French diplomatic source told AFP he believed "that those in Algiers, who lived through the negotiations, were quite tempted" to sign the accord.
But he conceded that "on the other hand those who are on the ground, who haven't participated in the negotiations, are far more negative."
"The idea is to include as many people as possible in the agreement. It is probably inevitable that one or two factions will remain outside but we have to minimize the dissent," he told AFP.
A member of a delegation of diplomats and officials representing the European Union told AFP they were going to Kidal on Tuesday "to move things forward", noting that the rebel statement "is only a resolution, not a definitive document."
The Kidal conference began four days after U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged the main rebel alliance -- known as the Coordination -- to sign a peace deal penned in Algeria on March 1.
The Malian government signed the agreement, along with some northern pro-Bamako armed groups, but the rebels asked for more time.
A jihadist attack Saturday that left five people dead, including two Europeans and a Malian policeman, has turned up the heat on any reticent rebels.
The Malian government and the international community saw the assault as a bid to sabotage peace efforts.
Islamist militants in 2012 seized control of northern Mali in 2012 for more than nine months until a French-led military intervention in 2013 that partly drove them from the region.
Source: Agence France Presse
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