Algeria closes the airspace of planes in Mali while the row of drones degenerates | News

The ambassadors of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger remember Algeria in the midst of relations and the slaughter of the Mali drone.

Algeria has prohibited thefts towards and from Mali for “recurrent violations” of Algerian airspace, a week after having shot down a drone belonging to its neighbor.

State television in Algeria announced on Monday the decision, which came shortly after Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger recalled their ambassadors in Algiers in response to the drop in the Malian drone.

The Alliance of the States of the Sahel (AES), a confederation of the three African nations, accused Algeria of an “irresponsible act” which violated international law by announcing withdrawal from social networks.

This decision increases tensions between the trio of Allied military governments and Algeria.

The AES declared that it considered the act “an assault against the whole Confederation” and “contrary to historical relations and the fraternal relations between the peoples of the AES Confederation and the Algerian people”.

The envoys were recalled for consultations on the contribution “to destabilization in the region,” added the AES.

The destruction of the plane, which flew near the Algerian border town in Tin Zaouatine on the night of March 31 to April 1, “prevented the neutralization of a terrorist group which planned terrorist acts against the AES,” said a declaration of the AES.

In addition, the Prime Minister General Abdoulaye Maiga, head of the military authorities of Mali, said that the incident proves “that the Algerian regime sponsors international terrorism”.

Algiers said earlier in the week that the drone had been targeted because it had violated its airspace over 2 km (1.2 mile) and called it an “armed surveillance drone”.

Bamako said that a preliminary survey revealed that the drone was flying into Malian territory about 10 km (6 miles) from the Algerian border.

Changing dynamic

The AES was formed last year in the aftermath of several state couples and following the release of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger from the almost 50-year-old regional block known as the Economic Community of West African States (Ceceas).

The three countries, located in the Sahel region, at the southern end of the Sahara, were prey to years by armed groups affiliated to ISIL (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda which put bloody attacks against civilians and the increasingly controlled territory.

Algeria has served for many years as a key mediator when the government of Mali was confronted with the Tuareg rebels for decades after the country has acquired independence from France in 1960, but tension has increased in recent months.

However, two military coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021 changed dynamics, pushing the two countries from each other, Mali and the other members of the AES moving to reduce links with France and strengthen links with Russia.

Algerian officials denounced the use by Mali of Russian mercenaries and armed drones near Tin Zaouatine, the border city in the north of the country where the drone was found.