ALGIERS – Monday, 09 October 2023 (APS) – The Algerian government has decided to defer the initiation of the preparatory consultations planned for Niger’s crisis “until receiving the required clarifications regarding the implementation of the Algerian mediation,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad said Monday in a statement.
“The Nigerien authorities informed, in an official letter On Wednesday, Sep 27, 2023, the Algerian government their acceptance of the Algerian mediation in Niger’s political, institutional, and constitutional crisis. Upon receiving this letter, the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, immediately tasked the Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, Ahmed Attaf, to head to Niamey without delay to initiate, with the Nigerien authorities, the preparatory consultations for the Algerian mediation,” the statement said.
Since that date, the source added that “Attaf, with his Nigerien counterpart as well as the Algerian embassy in Niamey with the Nigerien Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held direct discussions regarding the agenda and content of this visit. However, these discussions did not deliver the expected outcome on these two issues.”
In this respect, “official and public statements from the Nigerien authorities have brought about legitimate questions on their actual readiness to give concrete expression to its acceptance of the Algerian mediation,” the statement said.
As a result, the Algerian government “has decided to defer the initiation of the planned preparatory consultations until receiving the required clarifications regarding the implementation of the Algerian mediation,” the statement said.