Algeria could start limited foreign deployments

Significance

This reverses the previous policy that prohibited troops from undertaking foreign deployments and is important in light of deteriorating security in neighbouring Libya, Mali and Chad. Algeria’s military is well-equipped and well-trained. European powers and the United States have urged Algeria for years to take a more active role in regional stability operations.

Impacts

• Deploying troops abroad would provoke strong popular opposition domestically, further emboldening the Hirak demonstration movement.
• Algerian troops in Mali and Chad would bolster Algiers’ diplomatic standing in Paris, Washington and Brussels.
• Algiers will immediately redeploy troops if they are injured or killed on foreign soil.
• Withdrawal of troops from neighbouring states would erode any diplomatic capital gained by Algeria.