Algeria reopened its airspace to all Malian civil and military flights on 10 July 2026, and within hours Mali reciprocated, lifting its own ban on Algerian aircraft. The two governments also announced the return of their respective ambassadors to Algiers and Bamako, ending a 15-month rupture that had severed air links and frozen diplomatic representation between the North African neighbours.

The crisis began on the night of 31 March 2025, when Algerian air defences shot down an armed Malian reconnaissance drone near the border town of Tin-Zaouatine. Algiers said the drone had penetrated its airspace by two kilometres, the third such violation in months. Bamako contested the account, insisting the aircraft was destroyed over Malian territory. On 7 April 2025, Algeria closed its airspace to all Malian traffic, citing repeated incursions. Mali responded in kind, and both countries recalled their ambassadors. The rift widened as Mali quit the Algeria-based joint counter-terrorism committee (CEMOC) in May 2026 and earlier had renounced the 2015 Algiers peace accord, which Algeria had mediated for northern Mali.

The thaw was preceded by a series of conciliatory signals from Algiers. In late April 2026, Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf reaffirmed support for Mali’s territorial integrity. On 2 May, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune offered to mediate if Bamako requested, while distinguishing between Malian leader Assimi Goïta—whom he said had never personally insulted Algeria—and his government. The airspace and diplomatic moves on 10 July were coordinated: Algeria’s defence ministry announced the reopening first, followed by a Malian government statement that it would reopen its own airspace and return its ambassador. Algeria’s foreign ministry then confirmed the return of its envoy to Bamako.

The detente aligns with a broader regional recalibration. Algeria had already restored ties with Niger, another member of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) that had recalled envoys after the drone incident; Niger’s ambassador returned to Algiers in February 2026, and President Abdourahamane Tiani visited that month. The next milestone will be the actual resumption of flights and the re-establishment of full diplomatic channels, which could pave the way for renewed security cooperation along the porous Sahara border.