UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The use of violence to achieve political objectives in Mali violates the terms of a peace agreement with a liberation movement, the U.N. secretary-general said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said at least 30,000 people were displaced by fighting between Taureq rebel groups and government forces in northern Mali.
"People are fleeing the violence in large numbers, in great haste, and in utter destitution," Jurg Eglin, the head of the ICRC's regional delegation for Niger and Mali, said in a statement.
Fighting in Mali attributed to Tuareg rebels erupted in January when they returned from fighting alongside forces loyal to former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The simmering conflict, after years of peace, rekindled ethnic tensions between northern and southern Malians.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a statement issued through his spokesman's office, said fighting between Taureg rebels and government forces violates the terms of a 2009 cease-fire that ended a rebellion.
"The secretary-general condemns the use of violence as a means to achieve political objectives," the statement read.
Conflict in Mali this week prompted aid group Doctors Without Borders to stop work in the country.
"The latest assessments made by our staff in northern Mali are particularly alarming," the ICRC delegate added.
