Algeria has quietly kept its army at home for more than fifty years, until now. The decision to send Algeria troops to Niger is the country’s first foreign deployment since 1973, and it could reshape security politics across the Sahel.
A rare parliamentary vote
Algeria’s parliament approved the deployment in an emergency session on Sunday. Under a 2020 constitutional change, the president needs two-thirds approval in both chambers to send forces abroad, and AFP reported 148 of 174 senators voted yes. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune then ordered the move on Monday, saying Niger had asked for help. The last time Algerian soldiers went abroad was in 1973, when they backed Egypt in the Arab-Israeli war.
Protecting pipelines, not fighting a war
Senator Belkacem Boulghiti insisted the soldiers are not going to wage war. Their job is to secure economic infrastructure, mainly oil and energy facilities in northern Niger near the Libyan border. Algeria also has a big stake in the planned Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, which would carry Nigerian gas through Niger to Algeria. Niger itself faces persistent attacks by armed groups, some linked to al-Qaeda or Islamic State.
From rift to rapprochement
Only last year, relations between the two neighbours hit a historic low, after Algeria downed a drone from Mali and Niger recalled its ambassador. Since then, ties have warmed fast. Algeria sent fighter jets to Niamey in August after what officials described as an attempt to destabilise Niger’s military government, led by General Abdourahamane Tiani since the July 2023 coup. Niger’s defence minister visited Algiers just before the vote.
For West and North Africans, the shift matters. Algeria has long preached non-interference, and this move bends that doctrine in the name of the Sahel’s changing threats. Whether it brings stability, or draws Algiers deeper into a volatile region, is now the big question.
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