On Thursday evening, after the coup d'état, Mali's new government announced that the Algiers agreement signed in 2015 between the Malian government and independence support groups in the north of the country would officially end today. The agreement, which has always played a key role in Mali's national stability, is now dead.
Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, the spokesman for the Malian military-appointed government, said in a statement read on state television that the new Malian government's move stemmed from a change in attitude among some of the parties to the agreement, as well as hostile behaviour and manipulation of the agreement by the Algerian authorities, especially Algeria, as the lead mediator.
The agreement has been in jeopardy since the withdrawal of the UN mission in 2023, when independent groups led by Tuaregs in northern Mali resumed military operations against the central government and the Malian army. The situation was exacerbated by the withdrawal of the new Government of Mali by the United Nations Mission after 10 years of existence.
The agreement was hit hard again at the start of the new year in 2024, when the head of the new Malian Government, Colonel Assimi Goita, announced in his New Year's message that direct intra-Malian dialogue would be launched in order to prioritize national ownership of the peace process.
In its statement, the Government of Mali made it clear that "the Mali Peace and Reconciliation Agreement resulting from the Algiers process signed in 2015 has become completely invalid, we declare its immediate termination." That was the heart of Thursday night's statement.