Algiers Walks Back Into the Sahel It Was Frozen Out Of
Algeria and Mali restore ambassadors and reopen airspace after a fifteen-month rupture — handing Algiers a foot back in the Azawad file just as the Tuareg rebellion reignites.
On July 10–11 the two states agreed to reinstate ambassadors and reopen airspace to civilian and military aircraft, ending a break that began in April 2025 when Bamako accused Algeria of downing its drone. President Tebboune named Kamal Retaieb envoy to Bamako; the reset revives the trans-Saharan corridor along a 1,300-km border. It cuts against AES rhetoric — days earlier Lavrov met the bloc's foreign ministers in Niamey to reaffirm the Russian partnership.
Assessment: Algeria is the historic broker of northern Mali's Tuareg question, and its estrangement had removed a mediation channel precisely as the FLA rebellion reignited. The thaw tests whether a junta now bent on settling Azawad militarily, with Russian help, will tolerate Algerian influence over it.