06/07/2013 20:25 GMT
OUAGADOUGOU, June 7, 2013 (AFP) - Talks scheduled to be held Friday between Malian authorities and armed ethnic Tuareg groups who hold the northeastern town of Kidal have been postponed indefinitely, a source close to mediators said.
"The opening of the discussions has been put off," the source told AFP in the capital of Burkina Faso.
Bamako's emissary for north Mali, Tiebile Drame, met at his request with Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore, a mediator for West Africa, the source said, without providing any explanation for the sudden change of plans.
The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Mali spoke earlier of his optimism that talks between the government and armed rebels would ease the way for elections, despite recent heavy fighting.
Asked by AFP whether deadly clashes between Tuareg rebels and Malian soldiers in the country's north this week had undermined the dialogue in Burkina Faso, Bert Koenders replied: "No, I don't think so."
Koenders told reporters in Bamako he placed "great hope in the Ouagadougou negotiations", which have brought together Malian officials and Tuareg leaders to hammer out a deal on organising free and fair elections.
roh-tmo/bm/boc
