In Algiers, the word “France” is rarely uttered without the adjective “neocolonial”. Its presence in the Sahel is condemned, its departure celebrated, and its hand suspected behind every fire, every riot and every YouTuber. Yet, according to Jeune Afrique, as reported by the specialist defense website Zone Militaire, Algeria’s People’s National Army is preparing to move into Madama, in northern Niger, roughly 100 kilometers from the Libyan border. The site is a forward operating base developed by France’s Operation Barkhane. For decades, the Algerian regime demanded that France leave the Sahel. It neglected to mention that it wanted the keys to the place.
One can picture the handover. The prefabricated buildings are still standing, the generators are still there, perhaps even a “No Smoking” sign left in French. The Algerian commander inspects the premises and notes in his report: former enemy base, satisfactory condition, no signs of repentance. The guards change, the barracks remain, and “sovereignty” moves into the very buildings it once denounced.
The question, of course, is what exactly Algeria has come to defend. Barkhane at least offered a noble justification: fighting terrorism. The Algerian army has not even bothered with that. According to the Algerian press, its mission is to “protect energy infrastructure, not engage in combat.” Parliamentary group leaders have been more candid still: the objective is to “protect energy interests.” Sonatrach’s interests, to be precise. The Algerian energy company operates in Niger’s Kafra block and has its eye on Bilma. Paris was long accused of sending troops into the Sahel to safeguard Orano’s uranium interests. Algiers is sending its own to safeguard Sonatrach’s oil. The only difference is the color of the flag flying above the drilling rig.
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The sequence deserves a place in political science textbooks, under the heading “instant democracy.” A defense agreement is signed on October 21. The president notifies Parliament on October 22. Lawmakers receive their summons by text message. They vote on October 25, behind closed doors in the lower house and unanimously in the Senate, with each parliamentary group allotted 20 minutes to speak. The presidency announces the deployment on October 26. Nobody knows how many soldiers will be sent, how long they will stay or what the operation will cost. Fifty-three years of non-intervention doctrine have been swept aside faster than a vehicle registration application.
The president had already made his intentions clear in early October: “We will protect Niger, whatever happens.” In late August, he had dispatched four Su-30 fighter jets to Niamey to rescue President Tiani’s regime from a mutiny. Allies, after all, are becoming scarce. Mali accuses Algiers of interference; Algeria severed relations with Rabat in 2021 and then with Abu Dhabi in September; and Spain has postponed its bilateral summit indefinitely. When one has fallen out with practically every neighbor, one must at least try to stop the contagion from spreading further.
The Algerian taxpayer, meanwhile, received no summons, not even by text message. He will discover that he is financing the operation through the 2027 budget, which envisages nearly two dinars in expenditure for every dinar in revenue, with defense accounting for the largest share. He will pay the difference at the market, where chicken prices have risen 40% in a month and the regime has dispatched its organized crime unit to investigate tomatoes. There is money to guard Sonatrach’s oil wells in the Nigerien Sahara. There is none to bring down the price of potatoes in Algiers.
Sixty years spent denouncing France, and this is the result. The regime has turned colonial memory into a political annuity: it invokes it whenever a crisis erupts, demands apologies on every anniversary and blames Paris for every fire. But when the time comes to act, all it knows how to do is follow in France’s footsteps. It assumes the very role of Sahelian policeman for which it condemned the former colonial power, invokes the same “interests,” and ends up occupying the same barracks. France has left Madama. It has not left the minds of those who vilify it. Algiers has never freed itself from its former colonizer: it has become its understudy.
