Algeria’s two chambers of parliament backed President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s plan on Oct. 25 to send army units to Niger, citing energy interests and a bilateral agreement.
The Council of the Nation, the upper chamber, recorded 148 votes for the proposal: 131 members attended and 17 voted by proxy. The People’s National Assembly, the lower chamber, said it had passed by an absolute majority but did not publish a tally. Article 91 of Algeria’s Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber for troops to be sent abroad, so the lower chamber’s notice does not show whether that threshold was met.
The Council of the Nation said representatives of parliamentary groups supported the move to protect energy interests and carry out a bilateral agreement. State-owned Sonatrach announced a project for four planned exploration wells at Niger’s Kafra oil permit to assess its economic viability. The company said work began June 4 on the Algerian section of the proposed Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, which would carry gas from Nigeria through Niger and Algeria to international markets. Neither chamber identified a project for the units to guard.
The Associated Press reported that Sen. Belkacem Boulghiti said the troops would protect oil facilities in Niger. “We are not sending our soldiers to wage war in Niger, but for a mission to secure economic infrastructure,” he told reporters.
Algeria’s Defense Ministry said it supplied Niger with four helicopters on Aug. 9. In a separate statement, it said four Su-30 fighter jets and a refueling aircraft arrived in Niamey on Aug. 30 after unrest there. Those earlier operations were separate from the approved mission. Parliamentary notices gave no troop total, deployment location or start date.
