The United States has agreed to withdraw its military forces serving in Niger, after weeks of negotiations with the military junta that has ruled the country since last July’s coup. In March the military junta announced the end “with immediate effect” of the agreements that allowed the United States to employ military and civilian personnel in the country to carry out operations to combat Islamist terrorism in the entire Sahel, the region south of the desert Sahara in which Niger is also located.
Since the 2023 coup, the military junta and its supporters have expressed strong anti-Western sentiments, especially towards France, of which Niger is a former colony, and called for the withdrawal of contingents of foreign soldiers. France finally withdrew its soldiers from Niger at the end of last year, but in Agadez, a city in the north of the country, there are still a thousand US soldiers on a mission that began in 2012. Also in March, Niger had created with Mali and Burkina Faso (two other countries in which there have recently been coups d’état) a joint force to counter the numerous jihadist groups active in the territory.
After trying to convince the junta to keep it without success, the United States agreed to close the base in Agadez, from which planes and drones took off to monitor the region. In the next few days a US delegation is expected to go to Niamey, the capital of Niger, to manage the withdrawal of troops.
The junta has also intensified its diplomatic ties with Russia this year. In recent weeks, dozens of Russian military professionals have gone to Niger to provide training services, local state media reported.