Algeria-Mali Crisis: Algerian Regime Suffers another Humiliating Setback at NAM Summit

Relations between Algiers and Bamako are still strained over Algeria’s continuous “unfriendly acts” and “blatant interference” in Mali’s internal affairs.
Diplomatic row between the two countries heightens as Malian authorities exposed once again Algeria dirty tricks and lies at the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held over the weekend in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
The Malian authorities accuse the ruling junta in Algiers of hitting below the belt and using deceptive tactics to impose its own political agenda that undermines Mali’s sovereignty.
In its final communiqué, the 19th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) included a paragraph on the Malian crisis, exacerbating tension between the two neighboring countries.
During the foreign affairs ministers meeting preceding the Kampala summit, the Algerian delegation tried, without Mali’s knowledge, to impose a paragraph in the final declaration, reaffirming NAM’s support for the 2015 Algiers Agreement signed by the various Malian parties to the conflict.
Malian foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop strongly opposed the Algerian attempt to interfere again in Malian affairs, urging NAM countries to stop referring to the Algiers Agreement in their documents as this agreement has been definitively buried by the Malian authorities.
The Malian government reported the clash with the Algerians in a comment posted on twitter account of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso).
“Bamako categorically rejected a text proposed by Algeria at the non-aligned summit in Kampala, Uganda. This text seeks to get support for the Algiers peace agreement, signed in 2015 between the Malian government and armed groups”, said the Malian government in its tweet.
In his speech to the NAM summit, the personal representative of Assimi Goïta, head of Mali’s transitional government, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, Minister of State denounced Algeria “a serious breach of diplomatic practice”.
Addressing the summiteers, the Malian official decried Algeria’s meddling in Mali’s domestic and demanded the “pure and simple withdrawal” of any reference to the 2015 Algiers Agreement in the draft final document of the summit.
These firm stands were voiced in presence of Heads of State and government of NAM countries, including Nadir Larbaoui, Algerian Prime minister and Ahmed Attaf, head of Algerian diplomacy, who were embarrassed by the Malian remarks.
The new diplomatic showdown between Algiers and its southern neighbor, confirms the rift deepening between Algeria and Sahel countries which no longer trust a country that supports separatism and fuels divisions.