Three armed groups in war-torn northern Mali have said they intend to form a political alliance, according to a document seen by AFP. During a meeting held near the northern city of Timbuktu on Sunday, a group named the Arab Movement of Azawad agreed to join two other armed factions which had earlier agreed to unite. The three groups together make up the Coordination of Movements of Azawad, a coalition of armed groups that signed a peace accord with Bamako in 2015. Mali has been struggling to contain violence that erupted in 2012, when separatists rebelled in the north of the country -- in a region they name Azawad. The conflict has since been overtaken by jihadists, who have spread the violence to the centre of Mali as well as to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso. The 2015 peace accord was meant to offer more decentralisation and respond better to the needs of people in the West African country's north. The deal has barely been implemented, however. ah/lal/eml/ach