By Hassen Djebril and Mohammad Sio
ALGIERS, Algeria/ISTANBUL (AA) – Algeria on Monday dismissed as “baseless” Mali’s accusations that it had shot down a Malian military drone near their shared border last month.
In a statement, the Algerian Foreign Ministry called the accusations “false claims” aimed at deflecting from the “catastrophic failure of Mali’s coup-driven project,” which it said had plunged the country into “insecurity, instability, ruin, and deprivation.”
Last week, Algeria’s Defense Ministry reported that air defenses had downed an armed drone that violated Algerian airspace near the Malian border, although it did not specify the country of origin of the drone.
On Sunday, Mali accused its neighbor Algeria of shooting down one of its surveillance drones near their shared border.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry also expressed “deep displeasure” with statements made by Mali’s transitional government and a joint declaration from the Sahel States Alliance leadership.
On August 18, 2020, a group of Malian soldiers staged a military coup that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Less than a year later, on May 24, 2021, Colonel Assimi Goita, a key figure in the first coup, led another power grab — this time detaining transitional President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane.
Algeria also regretted Niger and Burkina Faso’s “unconsidered alignment” with Mali’s “flimsy arguments” and their “shameful, unjustified language” against Algiers.
It summoned its ambassadors from Mali and Niger for consultations and postponed its new envoy in Burkina Faso from assuming his post.
The three Sahel nations Sunday announced they were recalling their ambassadors from Algeria.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry said all data related to the drone interception was "logged in the National Defense Ministry’s database, including radar images that clearly prove the violation of Algerian airspace.”
It said that two similar incidents had taken place in August and December of last year.