The delegates are members of the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CAM), a group of separatist entities, which last December announced the suspension of the peace agreement, brokered by Algeria ‘due to the lack of political will of the Malian authorities’ in implementing it.

The aim of the meeting is to break the deadlock on the agreement, whose provisions include decentralization measures and the integration of rebel militiamen into the National Army.

Concerns over the breakdown of the pact increased in mid-February when a Malian official source announced the resumption of military operations in the northern state of Kidal, a stronghold of the CAM-integrated movement, to restore the central government’s authority in the region.

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