Mali government signs preliminary agreement with rebes

The document for the preliminary agreement to resolve Mali's crisis was signed on Tuesday evening here by Mali's governmental delegation and a joint delegation of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the Supreme Council of Azawad Unity (HCA). The agreement was signed under the watch of Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore, the mediator in the crisis on behalf of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In the document which was christened "The preliminary agreement for holding of presidential elections on July 28," the two parties accepted that the elections will be held on the said date across the entire national territory, including Kidal, the locality which has been under the occupation of Touareg rebels. Besides disarmament of the armed rebels in identified sites, the parties also agreed that the Malian army will be progressively deployed in Kidal under the joint watch of the International Support Mission for Mali and the United Nations International Support Mission for Mali. The deployment of Mali's security forces in this locality will be done "without further delay" and the parties agreed to end hostilities with a cease-fire that came into force on the date of signing the agreement. They also agreed to end attempts to occupy new positions. The parties equally agreed that the rebels will remain with their weapons as they await to be placed in identified camps, because the mediators and Mali's partners were of the view that disarmament is part of the Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration process. The agreement was signed after negotiations between Ouagadougou and Bamako. The representative of the Malian government, Tiebile Drame, said he was happy that the agreement not only protects Mali's national territorial integrity and national unity, but also safeguards the secular nature of the state and it provides for the deployment of the army and the administration to all parts of the country, including Kidal.