Military Reform: Mali 2015 Accord for Peace and Reconciliation

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Chapter 8: Cantonment, integration and disarmament, demobilisation, and reinsertion (DDR)

Article 20: Integration shall take place as and when the combatants are cantoned, either by integration in the units formed by the State, including in the armed and security forces, or in civilian life. Cantoned ex-combatants who are not integrated shall be subject to DDR.

Chapter 9: Redeployment of the Armed and Security Forces

Article 22: The redeployed force shall include a substantial number of persons from the Northern Regions, including in positions of command, in order to facilitate the return of confidence and of security in these regions.

Chapter 10: Reorganisation of the Armed and Security Forces

Article 23: The Parties agree on the need to undertake a fundamental Reform of the Security Sector (Réforme du Secteur de Sécurité, RSS), learning from past experience and based on the relevant documents of the African Union and the United Nations.

Article 24: The Government shall, with the help of its international partners, take all necessary measures to set up institutions of defence and security, able to respond to the country’s needs and to contribute to enhancing regional security.

Article 25: The Parties shall set up an RSS National Council, sufficiently representative and bringing together the capacities of the different communities, in order to carry out an in-depth reflection on a new vision for national security, taking into account relevant local, regional, national and international factors.

Article 26: The RSS National Council shall make recommendations on new mechanisms for appointments to the senior positions of command and of services, in order to strengthen national cohesion and improve the professionalism and efficacy of these posts.

Article 27: In the context of reform of the Armed and Security Forces, a police force shall be created, under the authority of territorial collectivities, within the framework of their police powers.

Article 28: Local consultative security committees shall be established bringing together representatives of the State, of local and regional authorities, of communities and of traditional leaders, under the authority of the local chief executive.

Internally Displaced Persons: Mali 2015 Accord for Peace and Reconciliation

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Chapter 15: Humanitarian questions

Article 47: The Parties shall create the conditions needed to facilitate the rapid return, repatriation, reintegration and reinsertion of all displaced persons and refugees, and to set up mechanisms to take care of them, in accordance with the relevant African and international instruments, including the UA Convention of 1969 regulating aspects specific to the problems of refugees in Africa, and the 2009 Convention (Kampala Convention) on protection and assistance for displaced persons in Africa.

Article 48: The Parties shall invite humanitarian agencies and organisations to support their efforts to ensure the rapid return repatriation, reintegration and reinsertion of all displaced persons and refugees.

Education Reform: Mali 2015 Accord for Peace and Reconciliation

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Article 39: The Parties shall take the following measures in the areas of education and culture:

– adaptation of teaching programmes to the socio-cultural situation in the regions;

– promotion of local languages and scripts;

– strengthening the primary and secondary education system paying particular attention to

education for all;

– creating higher education institutions;

– creating cultural centres and museums; and

– promoting the culture of these regions at local, national and international levels.

The Agency shall be part of the regional administration under the authority of the President of the Regional Assembly, to which it shall be responsible.

Development: Mali 2015 Accord for Peace and Reconciliation

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SECTION IV: SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 12: Specific Development Strategy

Article 32: The Parties agree that the State needs to reposition its local development strategy in favour of greater involvement of local collectivities in formulating their own development strategies based on solidarity, and which are participative and adapted to the socio-cultural and geographic local realities, while ensuring transparency and proper accounting at all levels.

Article 33: A Development Zone for the Northern Regions shall be created, with an Interregional Consultative Council made up of representatives of the relevant Regional Assemblies and tasked exclusively with coordinating efforts and resources in order to accelerate local socio-economic development and related questions.

Article 34: A Specific Development Strategy shall be prepared for the Zone by the Parties with the support of international partners and financed in particular by a Sustainable Development Fund.

Article 35: The Strategy aims to raise the Northern Regions to the same level as the rest of the country in terms of development indicators, within the next 10 to 15 years. The Consultative Council for the Development Zone shall monitor its implementation supported by the competent authorities and institutions.

Article 36: The Parties shall set up, under the auspices of the Monitoring Committee for the present Agreement (Comité du Suivi du present Accord, CSA), a “Joint Evaluation Committee for Northern Mali” (“Mission d’Evaluation Conjointe au Nord du Mali, MIEC/NordMali”) in order to identify needs in terms of rapid recovery, reducing poverty and development in the Zone. The mission shall take place no later than three months following signature of the Agreement.

The World Bank, the African Development Bank (Banque Africaine de Développement, BAD), and the Islamic Development Bank (Banque Islamique de Développement, BID), shall be invited to lead the mission, together with the Government, other competent international institutions, and representatives of the Zone.

Chapter 13: Mobilisation to promote development in the Northern Regions

Article 38: The Development Zone of the Northern Regions shall be prioritised in terms of the provisions for State support in the present Agreement.

To this end, the Parties shall take all short, medium and long-term measures listed in Annex, relating to socio-economic and cultural development.

The Government shall submit a document following the first meetings of the CSA, specifying its commitments in this area, the resources which it plans to mobilise, and the timetable for implementation of the commitments made, in particular in the following areas:

– basic social services;

– development of human resources;

– food security;

– rural development (agriculture, livestock farming and pastoral activities);

– structural infrastructure to open up the Northern Regions;

– mining and solar energy;

– employment, particularly for women, young people and former combatants;

– creation of local enterprises;

– reinsertion and rehabilitation of repatriated and displaced persons and other vulnerable groups;

– handicrafts, tourism, commerce and communications; and

– education and culture.

Donor Support: Mali 2015 Accord for Peace and Reconciliation

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SECTION IV: SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 12: Specific Development Strategy

Article 37: A Conference to appeal for funds shall be convened within two months of developing the Specific Development Strategy. The Conference shall institute a Sustainable Development Fund which shall serve as a financing mechanism for the Specific Development Strategy.

Demobilization: Mali 2015 Accord for Peace and Reconciliation

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Chapter 8: Cantonment, integration and disarmament, demobilisation, and reinsertion (DDR)

Article 18: The cantonment process for combatants seeks to identify those combatants eligible for integration or the DDR programme. This process shall be completed according to the standards and professional practices established by the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (la Mission Multidimensionnelle Intégrée des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation en Mali, MINUSMA).

 

Article 19: The Parties shall set up a national committee for DDR, including representatives of the Government and the signatory movements. This Committee shall work closely with the Monitoring Committee for this Agreement.

Decentralization: Mali 2015 Accord for Peace and Reconciliation

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SECTION II: POLITICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS

Chapter 3: Institutional framework and territorial reorganisation

Article 6: The Parties shall put in place an institutional architecture enabling the populations of the North to manage their own affairs in a spirit of participative citizenship, based on the principle of free administration and enabling wider representation of these populations within national institutions. To this end, the following provisions shall be made:

At the local level

– a Regional Assembly shall be set up in the Region elected by direct universal suffrage, to which a large number of competences shall be transferred, as well as resources and appropriate judicial, administrative and financial powers;

– within this framework the Malian populations and particularly those of the Northern Regions shall manage their own affairs, based on the principle of free administration;

– the President of the Assembly shall be elected by direct universal suffrage. He shall also be the Chief Executive of the Regional Administration;

– the cercles and communes shall have debating organs (a Cercle Council and a Communal Council) elected by universal direct suffrage and managed by offices with an executive function with a President of a Cercle Council and an elected Mayor at their head;

– each region shall have the right to choose its own official name within the framework of the provisions relating to the judicial status and functioning of the regions.

Article 8: The regions shall be competent, within the framework defined by legislation and provisions, in the following areas:

a) planning and programming economic, social and cultural development;

b) territorial management;

c) creation and management of public infrastructure and basic social services (basic education and professional training, health, environment, culture, regional road and communication infrastructure, water and sanitation);

d) agriculture, livestock, fishing, forestry management, transport, commerce, industry, handicrafts, tourism, interregional transport;

e) regional administrative budgets and accounts;

f) setting up and collecting local taxes and revenues using parameters specified by the State;

g) fee collection institutions;

h) accepting and refusing donations, subsidies and legacies;

i) disbursement of subsidies;

j) acquisition of holdings;

k) decentralised cooperation and twinning;

l) territorial police and civil protection.