Mali accused neighbor Algeria of being the sponsor and exporter of terrorism that knocked down Maria drones close to its common border last week.
A strongly worded statement issued by the Mali Foreign Ministry on Sunday questioned Algeria’s previous explanation that the unmanned surveillance aircraft violated its airspace.
The statement describes the drone’s descent as “hostile premeditated operation.” Algeria has not responded to the charges yet.
The armed forces in Mali are fighting the Tuareg separatists in the north. They have a stronghold in the town of Tinzaoutin, which crosses the Marigria border.
The shooting down of the drone marks a significant escalation in diplomatic tensions as Mali and its allies Niger and Burkina Faso recall their ambassadors from Algiers.
Last year, three countries led by politicians formed a regional group, the Alliance of the Sahel, known for its French acronym AES.
In a joint statement condemning Algeria, they said that shooting down drones “stops the neutralization of a terrorist organization that plans to target the AE’s terrorist acts.”
Mali also convened the Algerian ambassador’s incident in Bamako and announced that it would file a complaint with “international agencies”. It also withdraws from regional security groups, including Algeria.
Last Wednesday, Algeria admitted that it had shot down an “armed reconnaissance drone” approaching Tinzaoutin, who he said “infiltrated our airspace at a distance of 2 kilometers”.
But Bamako’s military government denied that drones violated Algerian airspace. It said the wreckage of the plane was found 9.5 kilometers within its borders.
Mali often accuses Algeria of providing asylum to Tuareg armed groups.
For more than a decade between Mali and the separatists, the North African state was once a key mediator. Their relationship has deteriorated since the military came to power in Bamako in 2020.
Algeria recently deployed troops on its borders to prevent the infiltration of armed and weapons by jihadist groups operating in Mali and other countries in the Sahel region of West Africa.
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