Mali accuses Algeria of shooting down a surveillance drone

7/4/2025 6:03

Mali accused

neighbouring Algeria of shooting down one of its surveillance

drones near their shared border in a statement read out by the

security minister on national TV on Sunday.



The West African country and its allies Burkina Faso and

Niger will recall their ambassadors from Algeria for

consultations over the incident, they said in a separate joint

statement on Sunday.



Mali said the drone wreckage was found 9.5 kilometres south

of the border with Algeria after it was shot down in the night

between March 31 and April 1.



The government said it had concluded "with absolute

certainty that the Malian Armed Forces drone was destroyed in a

premeditated hostile action by the Algerian regime."



The three Sahel countries said in their joint statement

that they energetically condemned the "irresponsible act by the

Algerian regime."



Algeria's Defence Ministry on April 1 said the army had

shot down an "armed surveillance drone" that



violated the North African country's airspace



near Tinzaouaten, a community that straddles the border,

without providing further details.



Mali's army said in a statement at the time that one of

its unmanned aircraft had crashed while on a routine

surveillance mission.