TUNIS: Algeria and Mali surprised observers by announcing the return of their ambassadors and the reopening of their airspace to one another, following more than a year’s rift triggered by Algiers shooting down a Malian drone.
Here’s what we know about the sudden rapprochement.
Relations between Algiers and Bamako deteriorated sharply in April 2025 after Algeria shot down a Malian drone it said had violated its airspace.
Following the incident, Mali and its Alliance of Sahel States (AES) allies Burkina Faso and Niger withdrew their ambassadors to Algeria — and Algiers responded in kind.
The dispute also rekindled older disagreements between the two neighbors, particularly over the 2015 Algiers peace accord between Bamako and armed groups in northern Mali.
