In its dual capacity as leader of International Mediation Team and Chairman of the Monitoring Committee of the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali, resulting from the Algiers process, and also as a neighboring country sharing a long land border as well as a long history of good neighborliness with Mali, Algeria is following very closely the latest developments in the politico-security crisis in the Republic of Mali, as well as the treatment reserved for it by the Economic Community of the States of West Africa (ECOWAS).
In compliance with the relevant decisions of the OAU and the AU on unconstitutional changes of Governments, Algeria has not stopped calling for the return to constitutional order in Mali and to work, in accordance with the responsibilities which are its own by virtue of the Algiers Accord, and in close collaboration with international partners, to meeting the conditions necessary to promote a smooth transition towards the lasting reestablishment of constitutional order in this brotherly country.
This commitment indeed reflects Algeria’s deep conviction that the peace and reconciliation process and efforts to restore democratic constitutional order are mutually supportive and require the support of all as part of a balanced approach.
In this context, and on the occasion of its recent interactions with the Malian authorities, Algeria, while warning against the political, security and economic consequences that any long transition such as that envisaged by the Malian side may have, pleaded for a calm and realistic dialogue with ECOWAS with a view to arriving at a crisis exit plan that takes into account international demands and the legitimate aspirations of the Malian people, as well as endogenous factors linked to Malian national dynamics.
It is in this spirit that the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid TEBBOUNE, in the audience he granted on January 6 to a high-level Malian delegation, insisted on the need for the authorities of transition in Mali to consider committing to making 2022 the year of the establishment of a unifying and consensual Malian constitutional order with the objective of consolidating the achievements and recommendations of the Peace and Reconciliation Agreement in Mali, resulting from the Algiers process, as well as other progress made by the fraternal inter-Malian dialogue. President Abdelmadjid TEBBOUNE, who emphasized the need for an inclusive approach responding to the complexity of structural and economic problems and the challenges that Mali must meet, including in the fight against terrorism, considered reasonable and justifiable a period of transition with a firm duration of one year, which only for imperative considerations of a security, financial or material nature, could be extended by a few months if necessary.
The President of the Republic reiterated Algeria’s unwavering attachment to the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the Republic of Mali, and encouraged the leaders of the transition to adopt a responsible and constructive attitude.
Faced with the serious risks and the hardships brought by the panoply of massive sanctions announced by the Extraordinary Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State on January 9 in Accra, as well as the countermeasures announced by the Government of the Republic of Mali, Algeria calls on all parties to restraint and re-engage in dialogue with a view to preventing the region from escalating tension and exacerbating the crisis. In fidelity to the principle of the promotion of African solutions to the problems of Africa which is the basis of the qualitative contributions within the African Union, Algeria expresses its full availability to actively support the Republic of Mali and ECOWAS on the way of beneficial mutual understanding around a united vision of the common future of all African peoples.