Algerian parliament’s upper house approves troop deployment to Niger

The upper house of Algeria’s parliament has unanimously approved the deployment of troops to neighbouring Niger. The Algerian constitution empowers the president to send military units abroad, provided that both chambers of parliament approve it by a two-thirds majority. The Council of the Nation held an emergency session on Sunday to vote on troop deployment, while the People’s National Assembly, or the lower house, is expected to hold a separate session later in the evening, Algeria’s popular newspaper El Khabar reported. If the deployment is approved, it would be the first mission outside Algeria’s borders since the 1973 War between Israel and several Arab countries, known to Arabs as the October War and Israelis as the Yom Kippur War.