AU Chair to witness Mali peace accord

Kuda Bwititi – Chief Reporter

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has invited African Union and Sadc Chair President Mugabe to a peace signing ceremony between his government and Tuareg separatist rebels.

President Keita’s special envoy, Mr Abdoulaye Diop, delivered the invitation to Acting President Phelekezela Mphoko at his Munhumutapa offices in Harare yesterday.

Mr Diop, who is the West African country’s Foreign Affairs Minister, told journalists after the meeting that it was important to keep the AU Chair abreast with developments in Mali.

“I am here, today, as a special envoy of the President of Mali, His Excellency Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, to deliver a message for the Chairman of the African Union, who also happens to be the President of Zimbabwe, His Excellency President Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

“The main purpose of this message was to brief the President — who is not here, but I have been received by the Acting President — on the security and political situation in Mali where we are signing a peace agreement on May 15 in (the capital) Bamako with the rebel movement in the north to bring lasting peace to the country.

“We thought it would be absolutely normal to come first and pay our respects to President Mugabe as Chairman of the AU, but also as a freedom fighter, one of the most respected and senior leaders on the continent, knowing that as Zimbabwe, Mali is fighting today for its unity, independence and territorial integrity.”

Mr Diop said ending armed conflict in Mali would help bring peace to the entire Sahel region, which stretches covers parts of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan and Eritrea.

He said the “majority of Malians are keen to turn over a new page” in spite of uprisings by Taureg rebel elements over the past few weeks.

Factions of the traditionally nomadic Tuaregs stirred conflict in Mali, as they demanded greater autonomy in the northern region.

In 2012, an uprising opened the door to jihadists who seized half of the country, prompting French military intervention in 2013.

A peace accord was signed in Burkina Faso in 2013, but this has been repeatedly violated.

The latest agreement was cobbled in Algeria over months of negotiations involving the government, Tuareg separatist groups and government-aligned groups.