He led the African department until 1991 when he was named as Ambassador to Mali; he served in the latter post from 1992 to 1993. There he helped negotiate a 1992 peace deal in the Malian Tuareg rebellion between the warring Malian government of Alpha Oumar Konaré and the Azawad Tuareg movement: the short lived "Pacte National" treaty. In August 1993, Ouyahia was called back to Algiers to serve in the government of Redha Malek as Undersecretary of State for African and Arab Affairs, Secretary of State for Cooperation and Maghreb Affairs.