Algeria

Vote to send forces comes after a recent defence pact between two neighbouring countries.

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.

The military units to be deployed by Algeria are expected to be tasked with securing oil facilities in Niger.

The vote came after a visit by Niger’s Defence Minister General Salifou Modi to Algeria last week, where he held talks with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Chief of Staff of the People’s National Army General Said Chanegriha.

During that visit, the two sides signed a military cooperation protocol, the details of which were not made public.

Earlier this month, Tebboune confirmed that Algeria sent fighter jets to Niger in late August to help thwart a “coup attempt” that shook the capital, Niamey.

The Algerian Ministry of Defence previously said it had sent four jets to Niger following the unrest. It said two patrols of four Sukhoi Su-30 aircraft had landed at Niamey airport, accompanied by an air-to-air refuelling plane.

The warplanes were deployed at the request of Nigerien authorities on “a mission to support the Nigerien army in confronting an attempt to destabilise the brotherly state of Niger”, the ministry said on August 30.

Relations between Algeria and Niger have witnessed a significant rapprochement over the past few months on political, diplomatic, military and economic levels, following a period of tension between the two countries.

Spain’s Swiftair was fined 225,000 euros ($256,000) in France for corporate manslaughter over the 2014 Air Algerie disaster in Mali.

A Paris court has found Swiftair guilty of corporate manslaughter over the 2014 Air Algerie crash that killed 116 people in northern Mali.

On Monday, a French judge ordered the Spanish airline to pay the maximum fine in France of 225,000 euros ($256,000) for corporate manslaughter after a three-week trial earlier this year.

Air Algerie Flight AH5017 was flying from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria when it crashed less than an hour after takeoff in July 2014, killing everyone on board.

The Swiftair-owned McDonnell Douglas MD-83 was operated by the Spanish airline on behalf of the Algerian carrier.

Investigators said the aircraft went into a stall when it was hit ‌by ⁠ice as an anti-icing system remained switched off.

On Monday, the court ⁠said “negligence” in Swiftair’s training with icy conditions had played a role.

The captain had failed to complete an adequate proficiency check, while the crew lacked the required refresher flights following a period of inactivity.

“This ruling comes as a relief to families who have been fighting for more than 12 years for justice to be done,” said Sebastien Busy, a lawyer representing a group of relatives.

The airline has 10 days to appeal the ruling.

Swiftair attempted to have the trial dropped on the grounds that a Spanish court previously dismissed the case without any charges.

In a statement to AFP, Swiftair reiterated that the trial should not have gone ahead and that safety regulations had been followed.

The ruling marks the second time an airline has been found guilty of corporate manslaughter in France after Air France and Airbus were both ⁠found guilty earlier this year over the 2009 crash of a jetliner flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The crash killed all 228 people on board, marking the worst aviation disaster in French history.