Mali eyes new peace talks after scrapping deal with Tuaregs

Mali's junta has issued a decree to establish a committee to organise national peace and reconciliation talks, a day after it ended a 2015 peace deal with Tuaregs and accused mediator Algeria of interfering in its affairs.

In an apparent move to establish a new internal peace process, the junta's decree on Friday outlined the structure of a committee and the steps it should take to prepare talks. It did not give a timeframe or say which groups it wanted to include in the dialogue.

The Tuaregs on Friday acknowledged the termination of the 2015 peace deal but did not mention the new initiative.

The decision to end the so-called Algiers accord threatens to further destabilise the conflict-torn West African nation.

Algeria, which shares a border with Mali more than 1,300 km long said it could put the entire region at risk.

"The Malian people must know that such unfortunate and unwelcome decisions have proven in the past that the military option is the first threat to the unity and territorial integrity of Mali, that it carries within it the seeds of a civil war in Mali, that it differs national reconciliation instead of bringing it closer together and that it finally constitutes a source of real threat to regional peace and stability,” Algeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.