What happened
Both chambers of Algeria's parliament approved on Sunday 25 October 2026 sending units of the National People's Army to Niger, with the stated purpose of protecting energy facilities. AFP reported 148 of the 174 senators in favour, according to a senator, above the two-thirds the 2020 constitution requires for a deployment abroad; RFI reported both votes as unanimous. Algerian media cited by RFI say the units would guard oil facilities and Sonatrach investments in northern Niger; Togonews reports Madama, a former French base near the Libyan border, as the intended site. No number, duration or date was published. A Nigerien security source told Togonews that no soldier had yet been officially deployed. The vote followed Niger's defence minister Salifou Modi's visit to Algiers, where a military cooperation protocol was signed on 21 October without published terms.
AFP and RFI describe it as Algeria's first foreign deployment since 1973, from a state whose doctrine had been non-intervention and whose instrument in the Sahel was mediation. It gives Niger a second external military partner beside Russia's Africa Corps, from a neighbour that opposes foreign military presence in the Sahel. The record establishes an authorisation; it does not establish a deployment, its size or its tasks. Algerian aircraft have been at Niamey since 30 August at Niger's request, as recorded with the mutiny.
Confidence: Moderate
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