Algeria announced the day before through state television that the new measure seeks to guarantee its sovereignty and security in the region while accusing Mali of violations of its airspace.

In turn, Malian authorities, through an official statement, informed of the closure of their airspace to all flights from or to Algeria as a reciprocal measure.

The Algerian Ministry of Defense confirmed the downing of an unmanned aircraft from Mali on the first day of last year, in a statement in which it specified that the device penetrated at a distance of two kilometers.

Later, the Malian Armed Forces also confirmed that an unmanned aircraft carrying out a routine surveillance exercise was lost near the town of Tinzauatene, on the border with Algeria.

In response to the incident, the member countries of the so-called Alliance of Sahel States Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger withdrew their ambassadors from Algiers, while their counterparts did the same.

Increasing tensions in this region of West Africa will affect economic relations and trade, and is therefore of great concern to the governments of the nations involved in one way or another.

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