Algeria has refused a French request to fly over its airspace for a military operation in Niger, state radio said late on Monday, after a July 26 coup in the West African country that lies south of the Algerian Border.
This is coming as France has denied the report amid an escalating situation in the Sahel region.
Algeria opposes any foreign military action in Niger and favours diplomacy to restore constitutional order, state radio said.
France has about 1,500 troops in Niger that were stationed in the country before the coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.
It is not yet clear what military operation Algeria was referring to.
West Africa’s main regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said last week said it had agreed on an undisclosed “D-Day” for a possible military intervention if diplomatic efforts fail — an escalation that could further destabilize a conflict-torn and impoverished region.
On Tuesday, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council said in a communique that Niger had been immediately suspended from all African Union activities.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune voiced Algerian fears about an armed response early this month, saying “a military intervention could ignite the whole Sahel region and Algeria will not use force with its neighbors.”
The North African country worries about repercussions such as an influx of migrants into its territory, a government source familiar with the situation told Reuters.
“We are against the coup but we are against a military action that would worsen the situation in Niger and beyond in the Sahel,” the source who asked not to be named told Reuters.
French authorities did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
France’s military presence in West Africa has become increasingly tenuous amid a wave of coups in the Sahel region since 2020.
Its forces have been kicked out of Mali and Burkina Faso and anti-French sentiment has grown on the streets of Niger’s capital Niamey since the July 26 coup. Meanwhile, Russian influence in the region has grown.
Algeria has had difficult relations with France — its former colonial ruler — sparring over Sahel security and other regional issues, disputes over their shared history, French media coverage of Algeria and human rights issues.
Meanwhile, France has denied reports by an Algerian state radio broadcast that the government refused France access to its airspace for the reported military operation in Niger.
The French army has rejected that report, denying that it had asked Algeria to use its airspace, with a source in the army telling the Reuters news agency that “France’s joint defence staff denies making a request to fly over Algerian territory”.
Some pundits have said that military action by ECOWAS would likely be backed and supported by France, particularly amid the Nigerien junta’s cutting off of military ties with Paris and threatening the continued presence of around 1,500 French troops in the country.
That comes amid a wave of anti-French sentiment throughout the Sahel region, with Mali and Burkina Faso – which also underwent military coups over the past two years – having already kicked out French forces from their territories.
Despite that escalation and the potential for military action, Paris has not openly said or indicated that it would militarily intervene in Niger, and Algeria has especially been careful in its approach to the issue.
France is said to have turned to Morocco for access through the country’s airspace.
However, according to observers of the development in the Sahel region, why does France need an airspace for operations if it’s just ECOWAS that’s planning a military intervention in Niger?
A commentator said, “We know they’re planning feverishly to set our region on fire, but like I always say, if Africans will unite at this critical moment in our lives as a people, where no creed, color or caste matters, but just that resilient, triumphant African spirit, we can make a huge break for it.
Well done, Algeria!,” the commentator said.
