Algeria's President Tebboune offers to mediate between Malian authorities and rebel Tuareg forces

Speaking to the national press corps on Friday, Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune discussed the tensions between his country and neighbouring Mali. He offered to help negotiate between Bamako's military junta and rebel forces in the north but said he would not accept mercenary forces stationed on the 1,400 km border the two countries share.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune says he is ready to help mediate between Malian authorities and rebel forces in the country’s north – but only if Mali makes an official request for intervention.  

The regime in Bamako has been battling the CMA coalition of Tuareg independentists and Arab nationalists since 2023. Mali’s military junta pulled out of an Algerian-negotiated peace deal last year after the CMA clashed with government forces and Russian Africa Corps mercenaries, formerly known as Wagner.  

During his address to the national press on Friday, President Tebboune said his country would not accept mercenaries on the 1400 km border with Mali, despite his country’s strong ties with Russia. 

Bamako has accused Algiers, which has its own Tuareg population, of harboring terrorists who cross the border to launch attacks in Mali.  

In recent months, the two north African neighbors have swapped accusations of cross-border drone strikes.  

The withdrawal of the UN stabilization mission MINUSMA from Mali in 2023 has created a power vacuum in the north that President Goita’s junta has sought to fill with Russian mercenaries.