ALGIERS, Feb. 13 — Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has instructed the country’s ambassador to Niger to immediately return to Niamey, the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released on Thursday.
This decision came after the Nigerien ambassador returned to Algeria and resumed duties earlier in the day, said the statement.
The ambassadors’ return could facilitate the resumption of multifaceted cooperation between Algeria and Niger, and benefit regional and continental integration, according to Algerian diplomats.
Diplomatic relations between Algeria and Niger deteriorated following the downing of a Malian military drone from the night of March 31 to the early hours of April 1, 2025, by the Algerian army.
Mali accused the Algerian army of “destroying the aircraft on Malian soil,” while Algerian authorities insisted that the drone “violated Algerian airspace twice before being shot down.”
On April 6, 2025, members of the Alliance of Sahel States — Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso — announced the withdrawal of their ambassadors from Algeria in protest. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
