BAMAKO, Mali — The Al Qaeda-linked group that controls much of northern Mali agreed Friday to cease hostilities with another rebel group, a day after the United Nations backed a regional plan to oust the Islamists from power in a military intervention next year.

Ansar Dine, which controls the northern cities of Timbuktu and Kidal, and a secular rebel group known as the NMLA made the concessions following talks in neighboring Algeria.