Northern Mali faction says forces kill 20 in clashes

A pro-government militia in Mali killed 20 separatists in three days of fighting that undermines efforts to pacify the northern region of the country, the secretary general of the pro-government Gatia militia, Fahad Ag Almahamoud, said yesterday.

Neighbouring Niger is due to hold peace talks tomorrow between the pro-government Platform group, which includes Gatia, and the Tuareg-dominated Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA).

The talks are aimed at restoring a peace agreement signed in June that was intended to allow the Malian army to focus on stamping out Islamist groups, some of them linked to al-Qaeda.

“The fighting is over for now on all three fronts. CMA lost everywhere and sustained 20 dead. There was none on our side. All the deaths were for nothing,” Mr Almahamoud said.

Attempts to contact the CMA over the death toll were unsuccessful.

Fighting took place near the towns of Anefis and Amassine in the Kidal region from about 6am and at Tourek Oued, according to Mali’s UN peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, and Platform. Both sides said the separatist rebels had attacked Platform positions.

– (Reuters)