ALGIERS- African experts told APS that the Malian coup leaders wanted to export their bitter failure in managing their country’s affairs by attempting to tarnish Algeria’s image, which has made enormous efforts to serve Africa, affirming that Algeria’s strong presence in African Union’s structures reflected the recognition by the continent’s countries of what it does in service of their causes.
“Algeria has helped numerous African countries achieve independence and continues to be a messenger of peace and unity throughout the Sahel region,” emphasized Nigerien political scientist El Hadj Maalam Oumarou.
In this regard, he pointed out that Algeria currently plays a highly effective role in Africa, citing as evidence the mid-February election of Algerian diplomat Selma Malika Haddadi as vice-president of the African Commission.
The Nigerien political scientist expressed astonishment at the Malian coup leaders’ claims that Algeria “supports terrorism” in the sub-region after shooting down a Malian military drone that violated its airspace. He emphasized that “no African country believes these blatant falsehoods.”
“Sending Malian drones to the Algerian borders is a provocation,” said Oumarou, noting that such devices, which are loaded with missiles, should normally stay 50 kilometers away from the border.
The Nigerien political scientist highlighted the hostile intentions of some countries displeased with Algeria’s rising international influence, countries that readily manipulate African civil society actors to tarnish Algeria’s reputation.
“We have substantial information indicating that bloggers are attempting to portray Algeria falsely, and everyone knows who’s pulling their strings,” he underlined.
El Hadj Maalam Oumarou specifically mentioned Morocco, whose aggressive stance toward Algeria continues to escalate through smear campaigns designed to undermine Algeria’s development initiatives across numerous African nations.
For his part, Mauritanian political analyst specializing in security affairs in the Sahel region, Mohamed Ali Salem, emphasized that “the hostile statements of Malian coup leaders toward Algeria are nothing but an attempt to export their bitter failure in managing the country’s affairs,” against the backdrop of chaos in which Mali is mired.
The Mauritanian expert pointed out that to understand these hostile actions, it is necessary to look back at Mali’s withdrawal in 2024 from the Peace and Reconciliation Agreement resulting from the 2015 Algiers process, in what appears to be an attempt to discredit Algeria’s diplomatic successes, “at the request of foreign parties, including Morocco.”
He emphasized that Algeria is a major player on the African continent, with influence and power in the region, in addition to working to strengthen its presence through development and trade exchanges with many African countries, including those in the Sahel.
