By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO, April 8 (Reuters) - Mali's government has kept the army on a war footing and given no orders for a ceasefire despite the announcement of a truce with Tuareg rebels last week, a senior defence official said on Tuesday. The government and rebels issued a joint statement in Tripoli last week saying they had agreed to end all hostilities at talks overshadowed by some of the heaviest fighting of the months-old conflict. But the defence official said the Malian delegation, which is still in Tripoli, had not officially sent word of a truce and therefore none was in effect. "Nobody has received any instruction for a ceasefire," the defence official said, asking not to be named. "The military command has not deemed a ceasefire necessary because it is not the army that is shooting first. It's the rebels who are attacking convoys, camps, laying mines. The army simply finds it necessary to respond," he said. No clashes have been reported since the truce, however. The insurgents are fighting for control of an area crossed by lucrative Saharan trading routes, along which everything from fake cigarettes and cocaine to small arms and migrants are smuggled. Under the draft agreement in Tripoli, both sides are supposed to implement a ceasefire meant to lead to a permanent deal to end the conflict, which mirrors previous revolts by light-skinned Tuareg nomads in Mali in the 1960s and 1990s. Mali's eastern neighbour Niger faces its own Tuareg-led revolt which has killed over 70 government soldiers in barely a year, mainly in attacks near its northern uranium mining zone. The Malian rebels, holding around 30 captured soldiers, were supposed to release their hostages under the Tripoli deal while the army was to withdraw partially from positions around the desert trading town of Kidal. Neither has happened. Libya, keen to keep a high diplomatic profile, has brokered peace deals for numerous African wars but many have not held. The Malian defence source said the army distrusted the rebels' pledge to lay down their weapons and said that the security forces were continuing to deploy across the north. "Each time the rebels are in difficulty, they sign a truce so as to win time to reorganise and return in force," he said. "The rebellion is gaining ground. In Tessalit (a remote desert town near the Algerian border) there are even elected officials who have switched over to the rebellion." Attack helicopters last Wednesday pounded rebel positions near Kidal, the seat of previous Tuareg uprisings 1,250 km (780 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako. The source said 60 people were killed, more than initial military estimates. Hassan Fagaga, a former rebel leader who has twice been integrated into the army and twice deserted again in recent years, had joined rebel leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga in the latest uprising, the source said. "Bahanga is preparing for some substantial operations. Along with Fagaga they are mobilising the youth," the source said. (For facts on the Tuareg uprising in Mali and neighbouring Niger, please click on [ID:nL08714493]) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Writing by Nick Tattersall; editing by Alistair Thomson)
