The upper house of the Algerian parliament approved a troop deployment to Niger on Sunday during an emergency session. The Council of the Nation held the vote as part of the constitutional process required for sending military units abroad.
Under the Algerian constitution, the president holds the power to deploy military units outside national borders. This action requires approval by a two-thirds majority in both chambers of parliament.
The People’s National Assembly, which is the lower house, planned to hold a separate session later in the evening to vote on the same measure. The reports regarding the parliamentary procedures were detailed by the Algerian newspaper El Khabar.
If the deployment receives final legislative approval, it will mark the first military mission outside Algeria since the 1973 war. That conflict involved Israel and several Arab nations, and is known to Arabs as the October War and to Israelis as the Yom Kippur War.
Military units sent under this approved mission are expected to focus on securing oil facilities within Niger. The vote followed a diplomatic visit to Algeria by Niger’s Defence Minister, General Salifou Modi, during the previous week.
General Modi held formal talks with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and the Chief of Staff of the People’s National Army, General Said Chanegriha. The two delegations signed a military cooperation protocol during those meetings, though authorities did not make the specific details public.
Earlier in the month, President Tebboune confirmed that Algeria dispatched fighter jets to Niger in late August. The deployment aimed to help thwart a coup attempt that destabilised the capital city of Niamey.
The Algerian Ministry of Defence previously stated that it sent four jets to Niger following the unrest. Two patrols consisting of four Sukhoi Su-30 aircraft landed at the airport in Niamey, alongside an air-to-air refuelling plane.
The warplanes were sent at the direct request of Nigerien authorities. The ministry stated on August 30 that the aircraft were on a mission to support the Nigerien army in confronting an attempt to destabilise the brotherly state of Niger.
Diplomatic and military relations between Algeria and Niger have grown closer over recent months. This cooperation spans political, diplomatic, military, and economic levels, following an earlier period of tension between the two neighbouring nations.
