ALGERIA-MALI-CONFLICT-PEACE

Mali's Bilal Acherif, the general secretary of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, looks on during a peace agreement ceremony as part of mediation talks between the Malian government and some northern armed groups, on March 1, 2015 in the Algerian capital Algiers. The deal, hammered out in eight months of tough negotiations in neighbouring Algeria, provides for the transfer of a raft of powers from Bamako to the north, an area the size of Texas that the rebels refer to as "Azawad". AFP PHOTO / FAROUK BATICHE (Photo by FAROUK BATICHE / AFP) (Photo by FAROUK BATICHE/AFP via Getty Images)