Overview
- Both governments announced late Friday that they will reopen their airspace to each other’s military and civilian flights and that ambassadors will be redeployed after diplomatic ties were suspended in April 2025.
- The rupture began when Algerian forces shot down a Turkish-made Malian reconnaissance drone near Tinzaouaten on March 31, 2025, with Algeria saying radar showed an airspace violation and Mali denying the claim.
- Mali filed a complaint at the International Court of Justice in September 2025, arguing the shootdown aimed to hinder its counterinsurgency campaign, and Algeria has not publicly released the radar evidence Mali says it has requested.
- The dispute had practical effects on Sahel security cooperation as Mali withdrew from a regional joint military staff committee and both countries closed their airspace and recalled envoys, disrupting coordination against armed groups.
- The thaw may ease some operational gaps but leaves deeper problems unresolved, including legal proceedings, competing narratives over the shootdown, and broader shifts as Mali’s junta deepens ties with Russia and civilians face intensified violence.