In an interview with Le Figaro on 29 December 2022, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune deplored the deployment of Russian Wagner Group mercenaries to his country’s neighbour, Mali. Tebboune was quoted as saying that the money that the Malian government spent on contracting Russian mercenaries should have been placed into the development of the country and the Sahel region. His comments on Wagner were the first since the group’s deployment in 2021, which was condemned by the UK and several other European and African countries. France had previously criticised Tebboune for not commenting on…