Algeria and Mali have restored their relations after a year of conflict | Political Affairs

Relations are on the mend as both countries restore embassies and reopen closed airspace from April 2025.

A year later after a diplomatic collapserelations between Algeria and Mali have begun to dissolve, both countries have reinstated their embassies and reopened their airspace.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced on Saturday that the country’s ambassador would return to Mali, just a day after Algiers reopened its airport to civilian and military flights to and from the neighboring country in the south.

Issa Ousmane Coulibaly, spokesman for the Malian military government, confirmed in a statement that Bamako did the same.

Relations between the two African countries soured in April last year when Algeria said it shot down a Malian patrol plane for violating its airspace. Bamako denies this, saying that the drone was brought down within its borders.

The conflict between Algeria and Mali has disrupted security in the region Sahel region. Mali is a member of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), along with Burkina Faso and Niger. Both Ouagadougou and Niamey also withdrew their embassies from Algeria in April last year in agreement with their counterparts.

AES has faced numerous threats from armed groups affiliated with the ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda in recent years. Many researchers argue that such groups were able to establish the Sahel region in part because of The defeat of NATO Former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The ouster of Gaddafi has left the power exercised by the armed forces. Much of the military equipment of the loyalists was stolen and it is believed that the units were used.

Algeria mediated the peace talks between the Malian government and the Tuareg rebels operating there.

However, the political turmoil of the past year has led Algiers to withdraw from its role as a mediator, raising concerns about Mali’s security and integrity and threatening Algeria’s internal security.

In April, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria, Ahmed Attaf, reaffirmed Algiers’ support for the region of Mali, rejecting what he described as “terrorists”.