Mali's Tuareg rebels have accepted a planned peace agreement now being considered by the African country's interim government, dpa quoted French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius as saying Wednesday. The plan would form an "excellent base for a reconciliation" between the warring parties, Fabius said during a visit to Madrid. Militant insurgents took over Mali's north last year, using a power vacuum created by a military coup in the capital, Bamako. In January, France launched an international intervention and ousted the extremists from their main strongholds, but pockets of militants remain. The agreement foresees territorial unity, elections in late July, conditions for the government to resume control of the rebel-held town of Kidal and plans to respect the specific characteristics of the north, Fabius said. "If the text is adopted, there would be security again in six months, a basic element for economic development and for democracy to be restored," Fabius said. Interim President Dioncounda Traore's government wants to regain its authority in northern Mali before any elections.
