Niger rebel says Saharan Tuaregs to set down guns

By Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger's Tuareg rebel leader Aghaly ag Alambo said his fighters would lay down their guns from Monday and, together with neighboring Mali's Tuareg rebellion, submit to mediation by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Light-skinned Tuareg nomads in the Saharan north of Niger and Mali took up arms against their respective southern-based central governments last year. "We decide to lay down our weapons from Monday," Alambo said at a meeting with Gaddafi on Sunday in the southern Libyan town of Ubari, where he said he also spoke on behalf of Ibrahim ag Bahanga, leader of the Tuareg rebellion in neighboring Mali. His comments were broadcast by Niger state television on Monday, translated into French from the Tuareg Tamasheq tongue. Niger's government has refused to talk to the rebels, whom it... [read full story]