Algeria’s Ambassador returns to Bamako in humiliating diplomatic capitulation
The diplomatic row between Algeria and Mali ended in disgrace for the Algerian regime which is floundering as it has strained relations with all its neighboring countries.
Algeria, controlled by a military junta, is known for its impulsive, frivolous and unstable diplomacy raising serious regional and international concerns.
During the past few years, Algeria had recalled its ambassador to France on several occasions. The diplomatic show, which is used as propaganda to deflect the public opinion from deepening socioeconomic and political crises, usually ends with the return of Algerian ambassador to Paris without getting any political gains from former French colonizer.
The Algerian rulers had also recalled their envoy in Spain over the Sahara issue after Madrid openly voiced support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara under its sovereignty.
After it failed to persuade the Spanish government to reverse its supportive position on Moroccan Saharan, Algeria swallowed another bitter defeat by sending back its ambassador to Madrid.
Just when everybody was expecting the Algerian rulers to start reflecting about their debacles after losing diplomatic showdowns against Paris and Madrid, the arrogant and oppressive regime digs a deeper hole for itself, making international experts anxious as the country is drifting into unchartered waters.
Algeria, which is controlled by aging Generals, continues its ostrich policy and cold war-era propaganda. The military rulers are detached from current reality and the new world order taking place and shaking the region.
They are holding the country hostage, while they are inflicting irreparable reputational damage to their country with confrontational and irrational policy. Under their grip since independence, Algeria has lost its credibility and influence in Africa, Europe and the Arab world.
The Algerian junta has lost another diplomatic spat triggered with southern neighboring Mali. The Algerian ambassador to Mali has returned lately to Bamako after being recalled by Algiers amid heightened tension between the two countries over Algeria’s “unfriendly acts” and “interference” in Mali’s “internal affairs”.
The crisis was sparked by President Abdelmajid Tebboune when he received radical Imam Mahmoud Dicko, opponent of the Malian military junta. The move irked Bamako which summoned immediately the Algerian ambassador to protest against Algiers’s meddling in Mali’s domestic affairs.
Algeria responded by summoning Mali’s ambassador to Algiers, in a move that was seen as yet another provocation exacerbating tension between the two countries and pushing Bamako to recall its ambassador to Algiers for consultation.
Bamako had decried “recurrent meetings, at the highest levels in Algeria, and without the slightest information or involvement of the Malian authorities… with people known for their hostility to the Malian government.”
The Algerian authorities rushed to mend relations with Bamako after four Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger) joined the initiative announced by King Mohammed VI to enable these African landlocked countries have access to the Atlantic Ocean, a project that will transform the economies of these countries and the entire region.
According to some experts, Algeria’s damage-control campaign comes too late after years of divisive policy, manipulation and hollow commitments. Furthermore, the Sahel countries do not trust the Algerian regime which serves the agenda of the former French colonial power.
Algeria attempts to defuse tension with Mali also comes after sensing Bamako’s imminent decision to open a diplomatic mission in Moroccan Sahara, dealing a hard blow to Algeria-backed Polisario separatist group.
The meeting held by the foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger in Marrakesh to discuss the royal initiative offering Atlantic access to the Sahel countries has utterly knocked out the Algerian regime, making it looking for ways to salvage what is salvageable!
