Algeria Initiates Major Foreign Personnel Deployment to Support Niger Security

Algeria’s parliament has approved the deployment of ground forces to neighbouring Niger, marking a major departure from the country’s longstanding policy of avoiding overseas ground deployments. The move would be Algeria’s first deployment of ground forces abroad since it sent troops to support Egypt during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. The deployment follows the landmark arrival of Algerian Air Force Su-30MKA fighter aircraft to Niger in late August, following a failed coup attempt in the country. This represented a major landmark in defence ties between Algiers, and Central African states that recent extracted themselves from the European sphere of influence. The Algerian Defence Ministry announced that the deployment of two fighter squadrons had been made at the request of Niger's military authorities, highlighting the long range of the aircraft and the country’s ability to provide logistical support for unexpected foreign operations. 

By placing advanced combat aircraft at Niamey's principal military airfield, Algeria in August signalled its willingness to support Niger's existing government against further attempts at destabilisation. This followed multiple attacks by jihadist insurgents which Niger and its neighbours have repeatedly alleged are being supported by Western Bloc countries, most prominently France, to undermine stability and facilitate a return of Western control. The proposed mission for the Algerian Army expected to focus on protecting energy infrastructure in northern Niger, near the Libyan border, although the number of personnel involved and the deployment timetable have not been announced. The deployment was authorised through votes in both chambers of Algeria’s parliament on October 25. The upper house, the Council of the Nation, approved the proposal unanimously, with all 148 senators participating in the vote backing the measure, before the lower house also endorsed it. 

The Algerian Army is widely considered the most capable in Africa and the Arab world by a considerable margin. Its mission is expected to focus on protecting energy facilities and investments associated with Algeria’s state-owned energy company, Sonatrach. The company is involved in oil exploration in Niger’s Kafra region and in plans for the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, which would transport natural gas from Nigeria through Niger to Algeria for export to international markets, particularly Europe. Algerian senator Belkacem Boulghiti said the deployment was intended to secure economic infrastructure rather than wage war in Niger. Algeria and Niger signed a military cooperation protocol during Nigerien Defence Minister Salifou Modi’s visit to Algiers in October. Western assessments of the growing defence ties between the two African states have widely interpreted Niger’s reliance on Algerian support as a result of the shortcomings of Russian contractor forces in combating jihadist insurgents in the country.