Although the coup in Mali’s capital has ended and the military junta which has taken power has called for a ceasefire, northern Tuareg rebels were keeping on the fight.

Although the coup in Mali’s capital has ended and the military junta which has taken power has called for a ceasefire, northern Tuareg rebels were keeping on the fight.

Late Monday, the head of Mali's ruling junta, Captain Amadou Sanogo, called on the armed groups "to cease hostilities and to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible."
The various rebel factions have hardly rushed to accept the offer.

"It is our policy chief of staff who must respond to the question of a ceasefire," said Moussa Salam of the MNLA Tuareg rebel group. "On the ground, we remain vigilant."

On the other hand, a source within Ansar Dine, a separate northern rebel faction with ties to Al-Qaeda's North Africa satellite, said a ceasefire did not address the group's aims.

"Call to a ceasefire or not... Sharia in the (northeastern region) Adrar remains the objective," said the source, who is close to Ansar Dine's leader Iyad Ag Ghaly.

The coup leaders who ousted Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure on March 22 said they were partly motivated by the government's incompetent response to the fresh Tuareg assault, launched two months ago.

The Tuaregs -- who have for years demanded autonomy for their nomadic tribes -- have over the past two decades launched several uprisings against Mali's government.

But now the rebel ranks include men who fought alongside Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and have returned to Mali heavily armed, which has helped them win unprecedented military victories.