29/01/24 (Agence Europe) – “The European Union regrets the decision taken by the transitional authorities to terminate the peace agreement signed in Algiers in 2015”, said European External Action Service (EEAS) spokeswoman Nabila Massrali in a statement on Monday 29 January (see EUROPE 11265/33). She says that “the civilian population in the north of the country will be the first to suffer the consequences”. And “the negative impact that this breakdown could have on all national and regional balances, at a time when no alternative to the 2015 peace agreement has yet emerged, is real”, she added. For the EU, dialogue remains the best way to promote lasting peace in northern Mali. The military regimes of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger recently decided to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). (MB)