Algeria’s President Tebboune offers to mediate between Malian authorities and rebel Tuareg forces

Speaking to the national press corps on Friday, Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune discussed the tensions between his country and neighbouring Mali. He offered to help negotiate between Bamako’s military junta and rebel forces in the north but said he would not accept mercenary forces stationed on the 1,400 km border the two countries share.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune says he is ready to help mediate between Malian authorities and rebel forces in the country’s north – but only if Mali makes an official request for intervention.

The regime in Bamako has been battling the CMA coalition of Tuareg independentists and Arab nationalists since 2023. Mali’s military junta pulled out of an Algerian-negotiated peace deal last year after the CMA clashed with government forces and Russian Africa Corps mercenaries, formerly known as Wagner.