Niger Severs Ties with US Military, Orders American Troops Out of Territory
The West African nation of Niger is booting American troops out of the country.
American troops were first posted to Niger during the Obama administration, according to Reuters. As Obama was leaving office a $100 million drone base was under construction, The Intercept noted. In October 2017, four Americans and four Nigerien troops were killed when they were ambushed, according to Army Times.
But now, months after a military junta took control last year, junta spokesman Col. Amadou Abdramane said Niger is abrogating its agreement allowing American troops in the country, according to Reuters.
The junta has been turning to Russia for support, as have neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso.
Senior U.S. officials say Niger’s leaders have been exploring a deal that would allow Iran access to Niger’s uranium reserves, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cited as its source Nigerien and U.S. officials it did not name.
“Niger regrets the intention of the American delegation to deny the sovereign Nigerien people the right to choose their partners and types of partnerships capable of truly helping them fight against terrorism,” Abdramane said, according to Reuters.
“Also, the government of Niger forcefully denounces the condescending attitude accompanied by the threat of retaliation from the head of the American delegation towards the Nigerien government and people,” he added.
About 1,100 U.S. troops were in Niger as of 2023.
Abdramane said that the American presence was forced upon Niger in 2012 and that it was not aware of the extent of the U.S. presence there.
“In light of all the above, the government of Niger, revokes with immediate effect the agreement concerning the status of United States military personnel and civilian employees of the American Department of Defense on the territory of the Republic of Niger,” Abdramane said.
“The American presence in the territory of the Republic of Niger is illegal,” Abdramane said in summation, according to The New York Times.
Having American troops in Niger “violates all the constitutional and democratic rules, which would require the sovereign people — notably through its elected officials — to be consulted on the installation of a foreign army on its territory,” he said.
Anti-American rhetoric in Niger has been building.
“The goal of American policy is not to help fight armed groups, but to maintain control and counter the growing influence in the region of countries such as Russia, China and Turkey,” Abdoulaye Sissoko, a Nigerien columnist, wrote recently. “There is no public evidence that American bases in Niger have proven useful.”
Hannah Rae Armstrong, an analyst focused on the region, said the expulsion “reflects a real shift in the balance of power. Over the past decade, Niger has repeatedly pleaded for security assistance and aid. Now it’s the U.S. that finds itself in a position of being asked to beg to keep forces and bases in the country.”
“The potential fallout goes beyond the not insignificant damage to counterterrorism and intelligence efforts that loss of access to the bases in Niger entail,” said J. Peter Pham, a former special U.S. envoy to the region, “but to the broader damage to America’s standing on the continent.”
The Journal quoted what it said was a senior U.S. defense official who said the move by Niger “calls into question” future U.S. policy in West Africa.
“It doesn’t bode well,” the official said.
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