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Deadly clashes rock north Mali despite peace deal

18 September 2016, MVT 09:13
Thousands of people take part in a march to support Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in Bamako on July 30, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / HABIBOU KOUYATE
18 September 2016, MVT 09:13

Clashes pitting Malian armed groups in defiance of a peace deal have left at least a dozen fighters dead in the north of the country, sources on both sides of the violence said Saturday.

The fighting on Friday pit members of the pro-government group GATIA, the Imghad and Allies Tuareg Self-Defence Group, against ex-rebels from the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA).

The clashes took place in Intachdayte, some 85 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of the restive town of Kidal, sources from the two sides and a foreign security source said.

"We have lost six men and another is missing," CMA spokesman Almou Ag Mohamed told AFP.

"We seized a significant amount of military gear including 10 vehicles. Fifteen people were killed" in an attack on a group that is loyal to the CMA, GATIA fighter Mohamed Ag Telouf said.

In a statement published on Saturday, the CMA confirmed the clash erupted after an attack Friday by GATIA members, branding it "the umpteenth ceasefire violation" by pro-government groups.

It warned it "cannot remain indifferent to these attacks by militias that benefit from the Malian national army's equipment and logistics."

A foreign security source in northern Mali told AFP on condition of anonymity that "the situation was tense in the Kidal region on Saturday. The (armed) groups have their finger on the trigger and the UN is doing all it can to restore calm".

The fighting was the latest round of violence to occur since deadly clashes erupted in August for control of Kidal, a bastion of the former rebellion.

While the two sides held several meetings in the capital Bamako, no solution was reached.

Analysts say tribal rivalries have led to a deterioration of the situation in northern Mali.

Northern Mali fell in spring 2012 into the hands of jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda.

Ongoing international military intervention since January 2013 has driven the Islamist fighters away from major population centres.

Despite a peace deal signed in 2015 aimed at ending years of fighting in northern Mali and turning the page on the Islamist takeover of 2012, large tracts of the sub-Saharan country are still not controlled by Malian and foreign troops.

Bamako, Mali | AFP |

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