Algeria's upper house approves sending troops to Niger, first foreign deployment since 1973

A closed-door vote in Algiers

Algeria's upper house, the Council of the Nation, approved on Sunday, 25 October 2026, a proposal to send military units into neighbouring Niger. The session was held behind closed doors. An upper-house member who asked not to be named said 148 of the chamber's 174 members attended and voted unanimously, which met the two-thirds majority the constitution requires for a deployment abroad. Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf presented the proposal on behalf of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, accompanied by Armed Forces representatives, and the spokesmen of the parliamentary groups then backed it. Accounts differ on the chamber: most describe the upper house, while one report describes a closed plenary of the National Assembly, the lower house, with the same 148 votes. Al Jazeera reported that the lower house was due to hold its own session later that day.

Where the troops would go

Madama, in northern Niger near the Libyan border, is a former French military base used during Operation Barkhane, the French campaign against jihadist groups in the Sahel. The Algerian units would guard energy installations, including the Kafra oil field owned by the state company Sonatrach, and the vote is framed as putting a bilateral agreement into practice. A Niger security source said Algerian troops had not yet been officially deployed there. Niger's chief of cabinet, General Bacharou Ibro Amadou, has been in the Agadez region since 19 October, where he visited Madama, talked with local military commanders and then travelled to Dirkou to meet army and traditional authorities. Discussions focused on plans for the military base.

Relations after a tense year

Ties between Algiers and Niamey soured after Algeria opposed the 2023 coup that brought General Abdourahamane Tiani to power in Niger. Relations worsened in 2025, when the Algerian army shot down a military drone coming from Mali near the border, and Niger recalled its ambassador from Algeria. The relationship has since improved quickly. Tiani visited Algiers in February, and Defence Minister Salifou Modi travelled to the Algerian capital on 20 October with a delegation of defence experts. During that visit, Chief of Staff Said Chanegriha received him and the two sides signed a military cooperation protocol, the details of which were not made public. Algeria had also given Niamey four military helicopters months earlier, and in July it opened a 40 MW power station meant to supply Niger's capital and surrounding areas.

Algiers' stance and the August jets

In late August, Algeria sent fighter jets to Niger after unrest in the capital. The Algerian defence ministry said on 30 August that it had sent four Sukhoi Su-30 jets, flown in two patrols of four aircraft, which landed at Niamey airport with an air-to-air refuelling plane. Tebboune later confirmed that the jets helped thwart a coup attempt that shook Niamey. In early October, he told state television that Algeria would protect Niger at any cost.

“We will protect Niger whatever the price.”

He also said that some countries, which he did not name, had plotted against Niger, and that Algeria stood alongside it. Tebboune pointed to oil and mining agreements between the two countries and warned that some were seeking to destroy them overnight.

“There are countries, whose names I will not mention, that plotted against Niger. We stand alongside it.”

Sahel context and what comes next

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are all governed by military councils that came to power in coups, and together they formed the Alliance of Sahel States. Armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State operate across the region, and Niger has faced continued attacks from armed groups, including near its borders. Clashes recently erupted in the border zone between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The lower house still needs to act on the proposal, and no formal start date for the deployment has been announced in the reports.