Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune called on the evening of July 31 the military in power in Mali to return to legality “as soon as possible” and to apply the Algiers agreement.
“I ask the current leaders of Mali to return to legality as soon as possible. To give the floor to the people and to move towards elections”launched the Algerian Head of State during his periodic interview with the local press broadcast on television and radio. “As long as the Algiers agreement is not implemented, the problems in Mali will persist”, he also considered.
Algeria, which shares some 1,400 km of borders with its southern neighbor, took an active part in the peace agreement signed in 2015 with the independence rebellion to end the war in Mali, but its application remains uncertain.
In mid-July, after drawing up a negative assessment of its application in 2021, the ex-rebels of the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) denounced “the abandonment of (her) Implementation (…) especially since the advent of the transitional government”. This agreement provides, among other things, the demobilization and reintegration of armed groups as well as the decentralization and economic development of northern Mali, which the Tuaregs call Azawad.
“Terrorism exists in Mali but part of it is manufactured”also accused the Algerian head of state, believing that some parties do not want the situation to improve and that the deterioration of the situation in Mali “waits the appetites of certain states” whom he did not name. “Every time we try to bring the brothers together (the Malian belligerents) in a given country, certain parties interfere (…), Algeria is envied for its role”he added, saying that his country “deals with African states in good faith and with sincerity to solve problems”, reports the Algerian press agency APS. Abdelmadjid Tebboune thus let it be known that his country was ready to help the Malians economically and politically.
Mali, a poor and landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel, was shaken by two military coups in August 2020 and May 2021. The political crisis goes hand in hand with a serious security crisis that has been ongoing since 2012 and the outbreak of separatist and jihadist insurgencies in the north.
The country remains the scene of attacks by groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda, some of whose leaders are Algerians, and with the Islamic State, as well as violence by other armed actors: self-defense militias or gangs of criminals.