(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Thousands of Malians staged a demonstration on Tuesday in capital Bamako to show their support for a peace agreement signed earlier this month between the government and rebel groups active in the country's restive north.
The demonstration, organized by Bamako-based civil society groups, was meant to show support for the agreement, which aims to end the West African country's three-year-old conflict.
"It's sickening to see so many young people die in the north while trying to protect our land," schoolteacher Fanta Sian Traore, who took part in Tuesday's rally, told Anadolu Agency.
"This [agreement] is a national initiative that deserves our support," she said.
Demonstrators also urged the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), Mali's main rebel group, to sign on to the deal's final draft, which the group has thus far refrained from doing.
On May 15, the Malian government and several rebel groups signed a peace deal aimed at ending months of fighting in the country's restive northern region.
The signing ceremony, held in Bamako, was attended by 23 heads of state and representatives of several rebel groups.
The CMA, however, boycotted the ceremony, casting doubts on the deal's prospects for success.
Mali slipped into violence in 2012 following a failed coup attempt and a Tuareg rebellion that allowed Al-Qaeda-linked militants to take over the northern half of the country.
In early 2013, former colonial power France sent troops to the North African country and € with the help of Chadian and other African forces € flushed Islamist militants from Mali's main northern cities.
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