Mali recalled its ambassador to Algiers on Friday, on the "principle of reciprocity", as tensions mount between the two neighbouring African countries over separatist insurgents.
Mali had summoned the Algerian ambassador on Wednesday following what it called "interference" and "unfriendly acts", accusing the diplomat of holding meetings with Tuareg separatists without involving Bamako.
The following day Algeria's foreign ministry summoned the Malian ambassador to protest.
No information was available on Friday afternoon on whether the Algerian ambassador to Bamako would be recalled to his country.
Algeria is the main mediator in efforts to return peace to northern Mali following an agreement signed in 2015 between the Malian government and predominantly Tuareg armed groups.
Fighting between the separatists and Mali government troops broke out again in August after eight years of calm as both sides scrambled to fill the vacuum left by the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers.
Mali has been ruled by the military since August 2020 when the first of two coups occurred.
For more than a decade it has also been experiencing a security crisis with a string of jihadist attacks and the outbreak of separatist and rebel insurrections in the north.
Some leaders of Tuareg separatist groups currently live in Algeria, according to the heads of their movements.
Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop was visiting Morocco on Friday.
Algiers broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, denouncing a series of "hostile acts" by its neighbour, particularly concerning the disputed territory of Western Sahara and its decision to normalise ties with Israel.