Algeria senate approves sending troops to Niger
The rare move from Algeria comes as Algiers and Niamey strengthen security ties after moving earlier this year to repair strained relations and following a thwarted mutiny in Niger in August.
Any overseas deployment would mark a first since Algiers sent troops to support Egypt during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
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ALGIERS - Algeria's upper house of parliament on Sunday approved a proposal to deploy troops to neighbouring Niger to "protect energy facilities", a senator speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP.
Any overseas deployment would mark a first since Algiers sent troops to support Egypt during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
The legislator said 148 senators in the 174-seat body voted in favour of the movel.
The parliament's lower house is set to vote on the proposal later in the day, likely to approve it as well.
The rare move from Algeria comes as Algiers and Niamey strengthen security ties after moving earlier this year to repair strained relations and following a thwarted mutiny in Niger in August.
The neighbours, who share a 960-kilometre (600-mile) desert border, have agreed to deepen cooperation against jihadist violence, cross-border crime and trafficking.
The two countries have also been working to build the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, a vast project to export natural gas to Europe from Nigeria via Niger.
'We have interests'
Earlier this month, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune signalled the possibility of military involvement in the Sahel country.
"We will protect Niger no matter what," he said in a televised address on October 3. "There are countries, which I will not name, that have conspired against (Niger). We stand by its side."
"Today, we have interests," Tebboune then said. "We have reached agreements (with Niger) in the oil, mining and other sectors, and some are seeking to destroy all of this overnight."
Algeria's highly unusual measure to deploy troops outside its territory requires the approval of two thirds of its parliament, according to a constitutional amendment from 2020.
A military cooperation protocol was signed by the two sides, according to Algerian reports, but no details were given at the time.
The warplanes that Algeria sent to Niger in August were deployed at the request of Nigerien authorities, the Algerian defence ministry said.
Additionally, Algeria inaugurated a 40-megawatt power plant in June intended to supply electricity to Niamey and surrounding areas.
Algeria and Niger's relations had been strained for months following Algeria's downing last year of a drone from Mali.
The incident triggered a diplomatic row, with Niger joining fellow junta-led allies Mali and Burkina Faso in recalling its ambassador from Algiers.
Algeria and Mali have since resumed diplomatic ties.
Niger has been run by General Tiani since a coup in July 2023 that toppled the elected president Mohamed Bazoum, who has been detained ever since.