After more than a year of strong diplomatic tensions between Algeria and Mali, Algerian Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb arrived Monday September 14 in Bamako for a visit aimed at consolidating the rapprochement between the two Sahelian neighbors.
According to the Malian authorities, the head of the Algerian government must be received by the president of the transition, General Assimi Goïta, and meet with his counterpart, Major General Abdoulaye Maïga.
This visit comes three weeks after the one made on August 24 by Abdoulaye Maïga in the Algerian capital, at the invitation of Sifi Ghrieb. The Malian Prime Minister was received by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and transmitted to him a message from the head of the Malian transition.
The two Prime Ministers also held working sessions devoted to strengthening bilateral cooperation.
Also readIn the Sahel, Algeria and Mali want to “turn the page on tensions”
Reestablish dialogue
Abdoulaye Maïga’s visit was the first of its kind by a senior Malian official to Algiers since the outbreak of the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Relations between the two neighbors deteriorated significantly after the destruction, in early April 2025, by the Algerian army of a Malian drone near Tin Zaoutine, on the border between the two countries.
Algiers claimed that the aircraft had violated its airspace, which Bamako disputed. The two countries then recalled their ambassadors and mutually closed their airspaces.
Bamako and Algiers are now seeking to turn the page on this crisis and re-establish direct dialogue between the two countries which share more than 1,300 kilometers of border and have long-standing political, economic and security relations.
With AFP
