Algerian president calls on Mali to move towards elections

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune called on Sunday evening for the military in power in Mali to return to legality "as soon as possible".

"I ask the current leaders of Mali to return to legality as soon as possible. I call on the current leaders of Mali to return to legality as soon as possible, to give voice to the people and to go to elections," the Algerian head of state said in a televised interview with the local press. "As long as the Algiers agreement is not applied, the problems in Mali will persist," the Algerian president said.

Algeria, which shares some 1,400 km of borders with its southern neighbour, took an active part in the peace agreement signed in 2015 with the pro-independence rebellion to end the war in Mali, but its implementation remains uncertain.

"Terrorism exists in Mali but some of it is fabricated," the Algerian president accused, saying that some parties do not want the situation to improve and that the deterioration of the situation in Mali "sharpens the appetites of certain states" which he did not name. 

Mali has been shaken by two military coups in August 2020 and May 2021. The political crisis is coupled with a serious security crisis that has been ongoing since 2012 and the outbreak of independence and jihadist insurgencies in the north.

The country continues to be the scene of attacks by groups affiliated with al-Qaeda (some of whose leaders are Algerians) and the Islamic State, and of violence by other armed actors, self-defence militias or criminal gangs.