The United States agrees to withdraw its troops from Niger
Cairo: Hani Kamal El-Din
Niger is now turning towards Russia. The United States agreed on Friday April 19 to withdraw its soldiers from the Sahel country, at the request of the Niamey regime. The timetable for the withdrawal was not specified. On April 13, thousands of people demonstrated in the Nigerien capital to demand the immediate departure of American troops, notably at the initiative of associations supporting the regime.
After the coup d’état which overthrew elected President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, 2023, the new military regime denounced the military cooperation agreement signed in 2012 with the United States, believing that it had been “unilaterally imposed” by Washington and that the American presence was now “illegal”. More than 1,000 American soldiers are present in the country, engaged in the anti-jihadist fight in the Sahel. They have a major drone base in Agadez, in the north of the country, built for around $100 million.
At the end of March, the head of the military regime in Niger, General Abdourahamane Tiani, spoke on the telephone with Vladimir Putin to discuss the “reinforcement” of their security cooperation, “to face current threats”, according to an official Nigerien press release. Russian instructors arrived in Niamey on April 10, while the country’s authorities received their first delivery of Russian military equipment. The Russian Federation will “to endow” Niger and “install an anti-aircraft defense system” able “to ensure total control of the airspace”, said Nigerian television. Two days later, on Friday, Africa Corps – seen as the successor to the Wagner paramilitary company in Africa – confirmed its arrival in the country.
Niger, like neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, has been facing recurring and deadly jihadist violence for years, perpetrated by jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group. In all three countries, civilian governments have been overthrown by military coups since 2020.
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