They all arrived in Gao on Tuesday, March 15, in the evening or on Wednesday. Mali’s Minister for National Reconciliation, Colonel Ismaël Wagué, and Northern Armed Forces signatories to the 2015 peace agreement held initial talks on Wednesday, but the meeting will not end until Thursday, March 17. Objective: to complete the agreement in principle signed in Rome in early February and to get the peace agreement back on track, while its application, which has already been laborious since signing, is now directly threatened.
The completion of The Rome Agreement in principleone and a half months ago, should make it possible to integrate the government component into the Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP), which brings together armed groups the signatories of the 2015 peace agreement, namely the former separatist rebels in the CMA and the pro-mali state groups in the platform. CSP can thus become CSPR, the Permanent Strategic Framework for Reconciliation.
The Malian Minister for National Reconciliation, Colonel Ismaël Wagué, wants to take the lead. Until now, the presidency has rotated among armed groups. This is a first issue of the meeting, the leaders of the groups that RFI joins are not necessarily positive about it. No comments were made by the government.
Another issue: the resumption of the Monitoring Committee on the Peace Agreement, which has not met since October last year.
Relations are more than tense between the Malian transitional authorities, who have repeatedly expressed their desire to “re-read” the peace agreement or to apply it “intelligently”, and the armed groups in the north, which condemn the bad will of the state. in the implementation of this Agreement. In recent days, several armed groups have very strongly asked the authorities to show their commitment. Some directly involved sources even fear that the situation will worsen so that it will lead to the resumption of clashes. This is ultimately what the Gao meeting should help avoid.
