But implementation of the deal has been hamstrung by squabbling
between armed groups. Some of the signatory groups blame the government
for delaying the process.
Soldiers
patrol outside the Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali, November 21, 2015
following an attack by Islamist militants.
Delays in implementing the security measures of a Mali peace deal signed last year is making it harder for the army to counter resurgent jihadist groups, an army chief of the West African country said on Monday.
Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda who seized urban centres in Mali's desert north in 2012 were scattered by French
forces a year later. But their insurgency is now intensifying and risks
spilling into previously stable neighbours despite efforts by French
and Malian forces to restore order.
In
the latest sign of the growing dangers, a Swiss missionary was kidnapped
from Timbuktu last week in the first known abduction of a Westerner
since 2013. In November, 20 people were killed by militants in a luxury
hotel in the once safe southern capital Bamako.
"The
(security) situation is complicated by the lack of control and clarity
on the movements of armed groups who signed the peace deal due to
multiple delays in the implementation of DDR (Disarmament,
Demobilisation and Reintegration)," said General Didier Dackouo, the army's number two official, in a speech before President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita at his palace.
An Algeria-brokered
peace agreement was signed between the government and a medley of
mostly secular northern armed groups in June and aimed to confine these
fighters to barracks.
Security experts say this is
necessary to allow counter-terror forces to distinguish between them
and the desert-based jihadists who were never invited to the negotiating
table.
But implementation of the deal has been
hamstrung by squabbling between armed groups. Some of the signatory
groups blame the government for delaying the process.
A
10,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali, the most dangerous
active peacekeeping mission in the world, late last month reported 28
attacks since September. Mali's army was also frequently targeted last
year with 82 soldiers killed.
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