Brahim Oumansour (researcher): "Malian leaders need Algerian mediation"

Audio 02:50

Official signing of the Algiers peace agreement in Bamako, May 15, 2015. AFP PHOTO / HABIBOU KOUYATE

Text by: Houda Ibrahim Follow

2 min

Algeria called for restraint in the Malian crisis.

She announced her " 

 " to support Mali to relaunch the dialogue.

To continue on this question, we invited Brahim Oumansour, researcher at IRIS, expert in international strategy, security and geopolitics.

He responds to Houda Ibrahim.

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Brahim Oumansour:

Today on the Malian issue, Algeria is coming back after a few years of decline.

Especially these last two years with the Hirak and the fall of the Bouteflika regime.

So the new leaders are trying to return to the regional scene and to establish themselves as a key player and especially as a mediator on the Malian file.

Algerian leaders aim to strengthen the 2015 agreement, to accelerate the reforms provided for by the agreement, so the recent coup d'état could somehow destabilize this agreement, admittedly fragile, but necessary to relaunch the peace process in Mali. .

RFI: Does Algeria, which is still seeking to strengthen its influence in the Sahel region, have the means to achieve its ambitions?

Algiers has strong links with the various local actors, including the Azawad rebels for example, but also with the Malian leaders.

Several officers of the Malian army were trained either in Algeria or in Russia where they worked alongside Algerian officers.

There are also the historical links between Mali and Algeria.

The ties forged between the two countries in the framework of the struggle for liberation which continued at the continental level represent a legacy.

And Algeria still enjoys this respect that it inherited from this period to which we can add the recent gesture that Algeria made in particular by the cancellation of the debts of several African countries, including Mali.

Does the military junta need Algiers to get out of the crisis?

No prospect of calming the situation has been offered.

Yes, the current leaders in Mali need Algeria because historically Algeria has played a role of mediator on several occasions in the 1990s, in 2014. Today, the Malian leaders in Bamako need the Algeria, which was the leader of international mediation at that time.

They need Algerian mediation to reach a consensus of rebel groups, armed groups with which Algeria maintains relations, and even can obtain concessions.

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• Algeria

• Mali