Mali's foot-dragging traps peace mission in unending conflict

Debris is seen after an attack on UN offices at the airport in Gao, Mali, November 30, 2016. REUTERS/Souleymane ag Anara

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Last week, the offices of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the desert city of Gao in northern Mali were flattened by a truck bomb. On Tuesday, just five suspected Islamist militants succeeded in freeing 93 inmates from a jail in the town of Niono.

"Peace" in Mali looks increasingly like war by another name. As both rebels and government go slow on implementing a deal signed last year, it is the U.N. peacekeeping mission, which has lost 100 lives and is costing nearly a billion dollars a year, that is paying the price.