Algeria-Mali: on the brink of diplomatic breakdown

We thought that the summoning of the Malian ambassador to Algiers by Ahmed Attaf, the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, in reaction to that of his counterpart who was summoned to Bamako, would clear up what we thought was a simple misunderstanding. The conciliatory language used by the Algerian Minister to address the head of Mali's diplomatic representation in Algiers in no way presaged an escalation of tension. 

This escalation came from Algiers, which summoned its ambassador to Bamako. It's as if Ahmed Attaf were acting outside the guidelines laid down by occult powers whose only aim is to ensure that wisdom and reason prevail between two neighboring countries that have always enjoyed respectful and cordial relations.

The recall of the Algerian ambassador to Mali was not raised by the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs during his meeting with the Malian ambassador. There was no indication in the communiqué issued by Ahmed Attaf's department on December 21 that the two countries would take the step of recalling their ambassadors. It was Algiers that took the initiative, and Bamako immediately retaliated by doing the same. An unprecedented event in the annals of relations between the two countries. 

It all began with the Malian army's capture of the northern town of Kidal in mid-November. There was no official reaction on the Algerian side, sponsor of the April 2015 agreements between the central government in Bamako and the northern rebels. It was only a month later that Algiers made its presence felt in a communiqué issued on December 13, in which the Algerian authorities expressed their "firm conviction that the Algiers agreement remains the appropriate framework for resolving the crisis in Mali". On this occasion, they invited "all Malian parties to renew their commitment to this collective work of peace and reconciliation".

The Algiers appeal was followed by action on the part of the rebels, who travelled to Algiers where they were received in high places. The Algerian Prime Minister received in turn Alghabass Ag Intalla, Secretary General of the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUA) and current President of the CSP, Fahad Ag Almahmoud and Hanoun Ould Ali, representatives of the Platform, as well as CSP spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane. Only the leader of the Mouvement national de libération de l'Azawad (MNLA), Bilal Ag Acherif, has not responded to the Algiers call.

The meetings between the head of the Algerian government and his Malian hosts focused mainly on an exchange of views on the latest developments in the situation in the region. According to sources close to the dossier, which is being steered by the Direction Générale de la Documentation et de la Sécurité Extérieure headed by Major General Djebbar Mehenna, there was no question of relaunching the Algiers agreement.

Relaunching the agreement requires the involvement of the Malian government, which, contrary to custom, has been kept at a distance and in the dark about the negotiations in Algiers.

It was the audience granted by the Algerian president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to the conservative Quietist imam Mahmoud Dicko, a politico-religious man of little influence, that provoked the ire of the Malian authorities. Their reaction was swift, especially as they had learned of the talks between the government's opponents and the Algerian government.

For the Malians, this was reason enough to summon the Algerian ambassador to Bamako the day after the Tebboune-Mahmoud Dicko meeting attended by the head of Algeria's foreign intelligence services. The following day, Algiers did the same with the Malian ambassador to Algiers. We thought things would stop at this point. But against all expectations, the Algerian authorities summoned their ambassador to Bamako "for consultation".

Unlike the French and Spaniards, who have never followed Algiers down the path of hostilities by avoiding replying to summonses from Algiers' ambassadors in Paris and Madrid, the Malians responded immediately. In a letter addressed to the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the high authorities evoked "the principle of reciprocity by recalling Mr. Mahamane Amadou MAIGA for consultation". (See document).

 
Things moved quickly, and what seemed hard to imagine not so long ago finally happened. The recall of ambassadors means the closure of official channels of communication between two states. It is the penultimate step before diplomatic relations are severed.

This is hardly in Algiers' interest, given that at a time when the torch is burning between it and Bamako, the head of Mali's diplomacy, Abdoulaye Diop, is in Marrakech to take part in a ministerial coordination meeting on King Mohammed VI's international initiative to promote Sahel countries' access to the Atlantic Ocean, to be held on Saturday December 23 in Marrakech, with the participation of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad.