Mali’s governmnet to probe ethnic rebel leaders, suggesting collapse of crucial 2015 peace deal

By BABA AHMED
Associated Press

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali’s military government has announced an investigation into ethnic rebel leaders who signed a peace agreement in 2015 to halt their quest for an independent state, a development experts say shows the crucial deal has collapsed. The public prosecutor at the Bamako Court of Appeal ordered Tuesday night the probe into the Tuareg rebellion leaders who have accused the government of not complying with the agreement and attacked security forces in recent months, driving them out of northern Mali in an attempt to create the state of Azawad— which they call home. The government in turn has referred to the rebels as a “terrorist group.”