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Rabat – Amid socio-economic crisis, Algeria’s regime has expressed its willingness to finance part of the security agreement between Mali and the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company.
The security agreement seeks to allow Russian mercenaries into Mali to fight against terrorism and armed insurgency in the West African country.
Under the agreement, Wagner will send at least 1,000 operatives into the Sahel, effectively expanding Russian influence over security affairs in West Africa, Reuters quoted security sources as saying.
France has furiously reacted to the news, and there are reports that Paris is determined to block the group of young Malian officers now leading the West African country from inking a deal with what France considers as Russian “mercenaries.”
Algerian news outlet Algerie Part Plus confirmed Algeria’s involvement in the deal.
“The Algerian authorities have secretly launched a process of negotiations to forge a deeper alliance with the Malian Military,” the newspaper reported.
It cited Algerian government sources as saying that Algiers has “informed Mali’s military junta that it is ready to finance part of their security agreement” with Wagner.
Algerie Part Plus’s sources, said to be close to the Algerian military and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed that the Algerian regime is ready to finance up to 50 % or 70% of the agreement.
They also suggested that Algeria views Russian presence in Mali as an opportunity to influence the power balance in the Sahel region
“Our sources stressed that Algeria is hardly hostile to the deployment of a Russian paramilitary force in Mali,” said the Algerian newspaper.“On the contrary, Algiers is delighted by this prospect and since last September it has been sending positive signals to Moscow to encourage it in this project of implantation in Mali.”
Algeria’s government also sent a delegation in September to Russia to express the country’s determination to provide “significant logistical support if a new Russian military base is unofficially installed on Malian territory.”
The news comes amid escalating tensions – both between Algeria and France, and between France and Mali.
French-Algerian relations appeared to take a positive turn earlier this year after the publication of a Macron-commissioned report on the “painful memories” of colonization and war that have long prevailed in Paris-Algiers relations.
Many in Algeria applauded Macron’s apparent determination to seriously come to terms with colonial France’s troubled legacy, although frustration remained about what many others described as a merely symbolic gesture that did not deliver the unambiguous contrition Algeria wanted and deserved.
In the ensuing context of half-hearted satisfaction with Macron’s pledge to “reconcile [French and Algerian] memories,” the French president’s recent comments about the “official history” of the Algerian regime ignited fury and indgination in Algerian political circles.
According to Le Monde, Macron had said that Algeria was ruled by a “political-military system” and an “official history” that was not based on truths but rather on a “discourse of hatred towards France.”
The French leader is also said to have described his Algerian counterpart, President Tebboune, as trapped in a “very tough” system.
Manifestly infuriated by Macron’s comments, summoned its ambassador from France for consultations.
“Following remarks that have not been denied, which several French sources have attributed by name to (Macron), Algeria expresses its categorical rejection of the inadmissible interference in its internal affairs,” the Algerian government said in a statement.
The latest remarks suggest that Mali’s current leadership is also not on good terms with Paris and is determined to emancipate itself from France’s “neocolonial” grip.
But whether the Mali-Wagner deal will effectively end France’s presence in the Sahel, and whether Algeria will gain the regional foothold it needs to catch up with Morocco on the African geopolitical scene remain open questions.
