Algeria doubles down on provoking Mali

With ties already at their worst, the civilian façade of the military regime in Algiers has doubled down on its provocative acts against Mali by receiving last weekend in Algiers extremist religious leader Mahmoud Dicko, whom Bamako accuses of backing Tuareg rebels.

This is the second public reception of Dicko after a meeting with Tebboune in December that led Bamako to recall its ambassador to Algeria followed by the declaration of Algiers peace deal with the Tuaregs null and void.

Bamako’s top military rulers accused Algeria in a statement of stoking separatism and terrorism as well as interfering in Bamako’s domestic affairs.

Tebboune was seen hugging Dicko at the inauguration of the biggest mosque in Algeria. The show triggered the wrath of Bamako where the prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga reiterated the end of Algiers peace deal as a result of “a series of Algeria’s hostile and unfriendly acts.”

Recalling Algeria’s plots against his country, Kokalla Maiga cited in particular how Algeria attempted to mislead the non-aligned movement into adopting a stance on Mali that supports the obsolete Algiers peace deal, a move that triggered an immediate response from Mali at the event.

Kokalla Maiga was speaking as Algeria conducts live ammunition military drills near the Malian borders.

While Algeria flexes its muscles in front of its poor Sahel neighbors, its military has shockingly failed to secure its territory notably its south, declared by western powers as a no-go area due to terrorism threat.

As Niger has previously rejected Algeria’s self-serving mediation, the Sahel recalls the destructive role of Algeria in stoking terrorism in the wider west Africa.

The Algerian military regime has long considered the Sahel as a dumping ground of its home-grown terrorist groups which mushroomed in the region taking advantage of porous borders and all sorts of trafficking activities.
As an indicator of a diplomacy in disarray, Algeria has chosen the path of diplomatic provocation and live ammunition drills to deal with its crisis with Sahel countries.