Mali rebel group ends ceasefire
2013-01-04 22:04
Dakar - Islamist rebel group Ansar Dine said it has
suspended a ceasefire it agreed with Mali's government last month, accusing
Bamako of making a mockery of peace talks by gearing up for war.
Ansar Dine is one of the main armed groups controlling
northern Mali's vast desert since a rebellion in April that Western and
regional powers fear could provide a haven for Islamist radicals to plot
international attacks.
"Ansar Dine has no choice but to suspend its offer
to cease hostilities, which was hard-won by the mediators but mocked by the
Malians," the group said in a statement dated 26 December and seen by
Reuters on Friday.
Mali's government, Ansar Dine, and Tuareg separatist
group MNLA agreed to end hostilities at peace talks organised by regional
mediator Burkina Faso on 5 December.
Islamist group Mujwa, seen as having strong ties with al-Qaeda's
Saharan wing, was excluded from the talks and has continued to fight on.
The diplomatic effort to conclude peace with Ansar Dine
and the MNLA however coincided with preparations for a deployment of thousands
of Western-backed African troops to reclaim northern Mali from the rebels.
The UN Security Council on 20 December authorised the
intervention and also authorised the EU and other UN member states to help
build up Malian security forces for the war.
No military offensive is expected before late this year.
"Ansar Dine has not seen any sincere desire on the
part of the Malian government for peace," the group said.
"On the contrary, while our delegations were in
[Burkina Faso's capital] Ouagadougou to open talks, the Malian government was
living by war and invective," it said.
Islamist rebels have destroyed much of northern Mali's
religious heritage and carried out a string of amputations in the name of
imposing its strict interpretation Islamic law on a population that has
practised a moderate form of Islam for centuries.
Some 400 000 people have fled their homes in Mali this
year. The rebellion was launched by separatist Tuareg rebels but has since been
hijacked by better armed and funded Islamists and al-Qaeda fighters in the
Sahara.
