Upper house of Algerian parliament approves deployment of army unit to Niger

Algeria's Council of the Nation, the upper house of parliament, voted Sunday in favor of a decision to deploy an army unit to Niger.

The vote took place during a closed session, for which members of the council had been summoned on Thursday for an "emergency meeting."

According to an Anadolu correspondent, the session concluded with a unanimous vote in favor of a presidential decision to deploy a military unit to Niger.

Council members told local media that the move involves "deploying a detachment of the People's National Army to secure oil projects belonging to Algeria's Sonatrach in the neighboring country," the correspondent said.

The People's National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, is expected to meet Sunday evening to vote on the same decision.

Article 91 of Algeria's Constitution stipulates that the president may "decide to deploy army units abroad following approval by a two-thirds majority in each of the two chambers of parliament."

If the troops are deployed, the move would be the first of its kind since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.