Signatories to a peace deal deemed vital for ending the conflict in Mali met on Thursday in the northern city of Kidal, a former rebel bastion.

The city fell to Tuareg separatists in 2012, who captured much of the north of the Sahel state before jihadist groups commandeered their rebellion.

Islamist fighters have since expanded the conflict into central Mali as well as neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, killing thousands.

In a bid to curb the fighting, Mali in 2015 signed an accord in Algiers with several rebel groups — a deal viewed as one of the country's few options for escaping the violence.

Adolphus Mawolo reports.