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Algeria Expresses Concerns After Mali Suspends ‘Reconciliation Agreement’

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune receives Mali’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on Jan. 16, 2023. (Algerian Presidency)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune receives Mali’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on Jan. 16, 2023. (Algerian Presidency)
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Algeria Expresses Concerns After Mali Suspends ‘Reconciliation Agreement’

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune receives Mali’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on Jan. 16, 2023. (Algerian Presidency)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune receives Mali’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on Jan. 16, 2023. (Algerian Presidency)

Algeria voiced deep concerns and regret after the transitional authority in Mali announced it terminated the peace and reconciliation agreement, known as the Algiers Agreement.

Algiers warned that the suspension carries risks for Mali and the entire region that is seeking peace and security.

Mali announced the "immediate suspension" of the 2015 agreement, attributing its decision to the failure of other signatories to honor their commitments and alleged "hostile actions" by Algeria.

The Algerian Foreign Ministry denounced the move, expressing deep concerns over the potential implications of this move.

Addressing the people of Mali, the Ministry acknowledged Algeria's unwavering support for the accord, emphasizing its sincerity, good faith, and solidarity.

It strongly refuted the Malian authorities' justification for abandoning the agreement, labeling the reasons presented as "untrue and completely irrelevant."

Rather, it said that over the past two years, Mali had shirked its responsibility in implementing the agreement and systematically rejected any efforts to revive it, said the Ministry.

Moreover, it added that Bamako was skeptical of the integrity of the international mediators, had even described as terrorists the signatories of the agreement and demanded the withdrawal of the UN mission.

The statement said these measures carefully paved the way for abandoning political efforts in favor of the military option to resolve the financial crisis.

The Ministry warned that opting for a military approach poses a significant threat to Malian unity, potentially inciting a civil war, hindering reconciliation, and endangering regional stability.

Mali's military government spokesperson, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, announced the end of the peace deal during a televised statement on Thursday.

The government "notes the complete impossibility of the deal," Maiga said, "and consequently announces its end, with immediate effect."

He said it was impossible to continue with the agreement because other stakeholders were not upholding their commitments, as well as "hostile acts" by Algeria, which acted as a primary mediator.

Meanwhile, the Front for the Coordination of Azawad Movements, one of Mali’s armed opposition organizations, said it wasn’t surprised at the abandonment of the agreement.

Spokesman Mouloud Ramadan said it was expected after Mali brought in Russia’s Wagner Group and expelled the UN mission.

Algeria and Mali share a 1,300 km border, which is a target for extremist groups, arms smugglers, illegal migration networks, and drug traffickers.

The relationship between Algeria and Mali became tense in recent weeks after the military authorities in Bamako summoned the Algerian ambassador in protest against "unfriendly actions and interference in the domestic affairs of Mali."

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Hezbollah Confirms a 7th Top Commander Was Killed in Israeli Strikes in Recent Days

Nabil Qaouq, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council. (Local media)
Nabil Qaouq, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council. (Local media)
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Hezbollah Confirms a 7th Top Commander Was Killed in Israeli Strikes in Recent Days

Nabil Qaouq, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council. (Local media)
Nabil Qaouq, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council. (Local media)

The Israeli military said Sunday it has killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese group was reeling from a string of devastating blows and the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The military said Nabil Qaouq, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council, was killed on Saturday. Hezbollah confirmed his death, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. They include founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades.

The Israeli military said it carried out another targeted strike on Beirut later on Sunday, with details to follow.

Hezbollah had earlier confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in Friday's strike that killed Nasrallah. The Israeli military said earlier that Karaki was killed in the airstrike, which targeted an underground compound in Beirut where Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah figures were meeting.

Israel says at least 20 other Hezbollah militants were killed in the strike, including two close associates of Nasrallah, one of whom was in charge of his security detail.

Wreckage from the strike was still smoldering more than two days later. On Sunday, Associated Press journalists saw smoke over the rubble as people flocked to the site, some to check on what’s left of their homes and others to pay respects, pray or simply to see the destruction.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Sunday that Israel's airstrikes had “wiped out” Hezbollah’s command structure, but he warned the group will work quickly to rebuild it.

“I think people are safer without him walking around,” Kirby said of Nasrallah. “But they will try to recover. We’re watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. It’s going to be tough. … Much of their command structure has now been wiped out.”

Kirby, who spoke during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” sidestepped questions about whether the Biden administration agrees with how the Israelis are targeting Hezbollah leaders.  

The White House continues to call on Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a 21-day temporary ceasefire that was floated by the US, France and other countries last week as world leaders gathered for the UN General Assembly.

Earlier this month, Hezbollah was also targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon has killed at least 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon by the latest strikes. The government estimates that around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets, caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told the AP.

Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets and missiles into northern Israel, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. No Israelis have been killed since the latest wave of strikes targeting top Hezbollah leaders began on Sept. 20.

Qaouq was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. He often appeared in local media, where he would comment on politics and security developments, and he gave eulogies at the funerals of senior fighters. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.

Israel has responded with waves of airstrikes, and the conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration.

Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.