Algeria’s parliament approved a resolution on Sunday authorising the deployment of army units to Niger, a parliamentary statement said, in what would mark \u200bAlgeria’s first foreign troop deployment since it sent forces to support Egypt in the \u200c1973 war.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers unanimously backed the deployment of National Army units to Madama in northern Niger, near the Libyan border, at the site of a former French base used during Operation Barkhane, the statement said.<\/p>\n
No troops have \u200bbeen officially deployed yet, according to a Niger security source. But Niger presidential chief \u200bof staff General Bacharou Ibro Amadou has been visiting the Kawar area in \u2060the Bilma department of Agadez region since October 19. He travelled to Madama for talks \u200bwith local military commanders before returning to Dirkou to meet military and traditional authorities on plans \u200bfor the base.<\/p>\n
The move highlights a rapid improvement in ties between Algiers and Niamey after a period of strain.<\/p>\n
Algeria opposed the 2023 coup that brought Niger’s current military leaders to power. Relations worsened last year, when Niger \u200brecalled its ambassador from Algiers after Algeria shot down a Malian drone near their border.<\/p>\n
Niger, \u200bMali and Burkina Faso are all ruled by military leaders who seized power in coups and later formed \u200cthe Alliance \u2060of Sahel States.<\/p>\n
Niger, like other countries in West Africa’s Sahel region, is battling insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. Algeria, which shares a border with Niger, has traditionally regarded stability in the Sahel-Sahara as a key regional security priority.<\/p>\n
Ties have improved this year. Niger President Abdourahamane \u200bTiani visited Algiers in \u200bFebruary, and Niger \u2060Defence Minister Salifou Mody travelled there on October 20 with a delegation of defence experts for talks on security cooperation.<\/p>\n
Algeria has also deepened its \u200beconomic interests in Niger. State energy company Sonatrach is working with Niger \u200band Nigeria \u2060on the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, which is intended to create a new export corridor for African gas to international markets, particularly Europe.<\/p>\n
Sonatrach said in 2022 that it had signed a production-sharing agreement with Niger’s \u2060petroleum \u200bministry for the Kafra region, where two exploration wells held \u200bproven reserves of 168 million barrels and 100 million barrels, respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Algeria’s parliament approved a resolution on Sunday authorising the deployment of army units to Niger, a parliamentary statement said, in what would mark \u200bAlgeria’s first foreign troop deployment since it sent forces to support Egypt in the \u200c1973 war. Lawmakers unanimously backed the deployment of National Army units to Madama in northern Niger, near the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"Reuters","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2362,31,33,1129,27],"tags":[240,383],"class_list":["post-22424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-north-africa","category-politics","category-security","category-west-africa","tag-algeria","tag-niger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22426,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22424\/revisions\/22426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}