Signing of security arrangement: Parties in conflict urged to immediate cessation of hostilities

A security arrangement signed Friday, in Algiers, commits the Malian parties in conflict to proceed to an immediate cessation of hostilities.

In this arrangement, it is stated that “given the precariousness of the situation in Menaka, in Northern Mali, and in other localities, of the risk of violent clashes that may follow, and the obligation to respect the previous commitments on cessation of hostilities to favour the completion of the peace and security process in Mali, the parties commit to observe and implement the respect by all parties, of their previous commitments.”

In this regard, “the parties commit in favour of the cessation of all hostilities, the withdrawal, from the locality of Menaka, of the armed element of the Platform and their return to their initial positions, the withdrawal of armed elements of the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), within a 20-km radius around the locality of Menaka.”

A record of conclusion of the negotiations around the implementation of the Peace and Security Agreement in Mali and a document containing the security arrangements on Northern Mali were signed Friday, in Algiers, by stakeholders to the Malian dialogue, led by the broadened international mediation, of which Algeria is a mediation leader.

The documents were signed by the Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ramtane Lamamra, as a mediation leader, by the Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and International Cooperation, Abdoulaye Diop, and the Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), Mongi Hamdi

The two documents were also signed by the representative of the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), Sidi Brahim Ould Sidatt and all the representatives of the international mediation