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Mali's government and allied fighters signed a long-awaited peace deal on Friday in a ceremony attended by numerous heads-of-state but boycotted by the country's main Tuareg-led rebel groups. The coalition previously initialled the document, but refused to sign it, saying the peace deal does not go far enough.

Report: Peace deal without the main peace makers

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15/05/2015 by Christina Okello

Mali's Tuareg-led rebels have agreed to sign a preliminary peace deal, an accord the government already accepted as a step to ending decades of separatist fighting over the country's north, Algeria's state news agency APS said on Wednesday.

APS said the rebel alliance would sign up to the accord on Thursday in Algiers.

Mali's government in March signed up for the agreement brokered by Algeria and the United Nations, but Tuareg and Arab rebel groups, including the main groups, the MNLA and MAA, had said they needed more time.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is calling on warring parties in northern Mali to sign a long-awaited peace deal. On a visit to Bamako, he stated that "Spain wants an accord." But last week's skirmishes are raising fears that the Algeria-brokered agreement will collapse.

Hopes that the Malian government and the main armed groups in the north will sign the Algiers Declaration on 15 May, an accord that took months to negotiate, faded with last week's ceasefire violations.

Amid an upsurge in violence in Mali, the top United Nations official there today warned parties about the serious consequences their actions could have on the country's peace process.

"I urge the parties to immediately cease hostilities and to return to their positions. This resurgence of tensions imperils everybody's efforts to restore lasting peace in Mali," said Mongi Hamdi, the Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced deep concern over a series of attacks targeting the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) which have resulted in numerous casualties, a statement issued by a UN spokesperson said today.

According to the UN, seven peacekeepers were wounded on 23 April in Mali's north-eastern Kidal region when a MINUSMA vehicle struck an explosive device. The incident was preceded by two separate attacks - on 17 and 20 April - involving unidentified armed men killing the drivers of MINUSMA-contracted trucks outside the city of Gao.

The signing of the peace and reconciliation agreement in Mali, scheduled for 15 May in Bamako, will open a "new page" in the history of this country, which is seeking stability, security and development.

Signed in Algiers on March 1st by the government of Mali and the political-military groups of Northern Mali, under the supervision of the international mediation, led by Algeria, the peace and reconciliation agreement is the fruit of a long negotiation process launched in July 2014.

C’est presque dans la clandestinité que le Ministre de l’Administration du Territoire et de la Décentralisation a annoncé qu’il n’y aura pas de délégation spéciale en ce qui concerne la prorogation des mandats des conseillers municipaux et derrière cette prorogation se cache la triste réalité de la violation des textes.

Sur la base de quel fichier électoral va-t-on organiser les premières élections régionales au Mali ? Comment les bureaux de vote vont-ils être organisés ? Y aura t-il deux bureaux de vote l’un pour les communales et l’autre pour les régionales ? Ou deux équipes de vote dans un même bureau pour prendre le vote des électeurs ? Ou tout simplement allons nous avoir des élections séparées en des jours différents ? Pour la première fois de son histoire, le Mali a décidé d’organiser des élections régionales.