Algeria's Senate Votes to Deploy Troops to Niger

By Al Mayadeen English

25 Oct 2026 18:31

The vote came days after Niger’s Defense Minister Salifou Modi traveled to Algiers on Wednesday and met Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha.

Algeria’s Senate has approved sending troops to Niger to protect energy facilities, a step that would be the country’s first military deployment abroad since it backed Egypt in the October 1973 War.

A senator who asked not to be named told AFP that 148 of the chamber’s 174 members voted in favor. The lower house was due to vote later on Sunday and is expected to give its approval too. Under a 2020 constitutional amendment, any deployment outside Algerian territory needs a two-thirds majority in parliament.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had already pointed toward military involvement in a televised address on October 3. “We will protect Niger no matter what,” he declared, adding that unnamed countries had “conspired” against its government and that Algiers stood with Niamey.

Tebboune tied the pledge to Algerian interests, noting that the two countries have signed agreements covering oil, mining and other sectors. He warned that some parties were seeking to wreck these deals overnight.

Security, energy ties deepen

The vote came days after Niger’s Defense Minister Salifou Modi traveled to Algiers on Wednesday and met Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha. Algerian reports said the two sides signed a military cooperation protocol, though its terms were not made public.

Algeria has also stepped up support for Niger in recent months. It handed over four military helicopters and opened a 40-megawatt power plant in June to supply electricity to Niamey and nearby areas. The neighbors are additionally working on the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, which is meant to carry Nigerian gas through Niger to European markets.

Security cooperation is central to the rapprochement. The two countries share a 960-kilometer desert border and have agreed to work together against extremist groups, cross-border crime and trafficking. Niger continues to face frequent attacks, including in areas close to the Algerian frontier, and an attempted mutiny was foiled there in August.

Relations had soured after Algeria shot down a drone from Mali last year. Niger joined Mali and Burkina Faso in recalling its ambassador from Algiers. Algeria and Mali have since restored diplomatic ties, and Algiers and Niamey moved to mend relations earlier this year. General Abdourahamane Tiani has led Niger since the July 2023 coup that removed pro-West President Mohamed Bazoum, who remains in detention.

Analysts see a shift in doctrine

International relations researcher Abdellah Akir told AFP the decision breaks sharply with Algeria’s long-standing refusal to intervene in conflicts beyond its borders. He argued that Algiers wants to safeguard its strategic depth in the Sahel and protect the planned gas pipeline. Akir added that the move also warns rival players, including Morocco and the UAE, both of which have cut diplomatic ties with Algeria.

Geoff Porter of North Africa Risk Consulting told AFP that the step reflects a change in Algerian policy. According to Porter, Algiers once pursued its interests through dialogue, international law and multilateral forums, but concluded that these tools carry little weight in a “multipolar and transactional world.”

It has therefore turned to a physical presence on the ground. Porter stressed that Algeria still holds to its foreign policy principles and is simply applying them differently.