French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is on a visit to Mali to offer his country’s support for a landmark peace deal agreed in the African country to end years of unrest.

Le Drian traveled to France’s former colony two days after Tuareg rebels signed a long-delayed peace agreement with the government, which is aimed at ending years of unrest in the northern African country.

The peace agreement, called the Algiers Accord, had already been signed in May by the government and its loyalist fighters. The Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), a coalition of rebel groups, had, however, been holding out until amendments to the deal were agreed on June 5.

Le Drian warned of the challenges facing the implementation of the deal in an address to the French troops in the town of Gao.

Now is not the time “to drop our guard,” the French minister said before holding talks with Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the capital, Bamako. He added, however, that “the efforts we are carrying out alongside our partners must continue.”

France has currently some 1,350 soldiers deployed in Mali as part of its purported counter-terrorism operation to halt the advance of the fighters who control the north of Mali.

Le Drian, the French defense minister, also pledged support for the UN mission in the African country, saying “the failure of MINUSMA will also be our failure. But its success is tied to our success.”

The Algiers Accord calls for the creation of elected regional assemblies in Mali’s vast northern desert, where Tuareg rebels have launched several uprisings since the 1960s.

The agreement, however, falls short of stipulating the creation of autonomy or federalism, which is one of the main demands of the rebels.