Bamako and Algiers have agreed to reopen airspace and return ambassadors after a dispute over a drone incident<\/p>\n
Algeria and Mali have announced the restoration of diplomatic relations after a yearlong rift that erupted when Algiers shot down a Malian military drone near their shared border.
\nMalian government spokesperson Issa Ousmane Coulibaly said on Friday that the West African nation would allow its ambassador to return to Algiers as part of measures aimed at the \u201crenewal of relations of cooperation and friendship\u201d with Algeria.
\nBamako has also decided to reopen its national airspace to all civilian and military aircraft originating from or destined for Algeria, Coulibaly said in a statement.
\nAlgerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune confirmed on Saturday that the country\u2019s ambassador would return to Mali.
\nTebboune said the decision reflected his \u201csteadfast and resolute commitment to restoring Algerian-Malian relations to their natural historical trajectory, based on mutual respect,\u201d according to a statement published by state news agency APS.
\nRelations between the two African nations deteriorated in April 2025 after Algeria said it had shot down a Malian surveillance drone for allegedly violating its airspace. Bamako rejected the accusation and said the aircraft was destroyed over Mali.<\/p>\n
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Tensions had been mounting since Mali withdrew from a 2015 peace agreement with northern separatist groups that was mediated by Algeria. The Malian authorities later accused Algiers of supporting armed groups, a claim the Algerian government denied.
\nThe diplomatic fallout extended to Mali\u2019s Alliance of Sahel States (AES) partners, Niger and Burkina Faso, which also recalled their ambassadors from Algeria during the dispute.<\/p>\n
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In recent months, however, Algeria has moved to repair ties with its southern neighbors. In February, Niger agreed with Algeria to restart work on the long-delayed Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, a project designed to transport Nigerian gas through Niger and Algeria to Europe.
\nAlgeria, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all former French colonies, have troubled relations with France due to alleged interference. The AES countries have accused Paris of failing to respect their sovereignty and supporting the militants behind a longstanding jihadist insurgency in the Sahel.
\nAlgeria\u2019s ties with Paris have also been strained by historical grievances, France\u2019s position on Western Sahara and migration disputes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bamako and Algiers have agreed to reopen airspace and return ambassadors after a dispute over a drone incident Algeria and Mali have announced the restoration of diplomatic relations after a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}