Biden administration officials announced Friday that more than 1,000 U.S. military personnel will leave Niger in the coming months, upending U.S. counterterrorism and security policy in Africa’s turbulent Sahel region.
In the second of two talks in Washington this week, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell told Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Ramin Zein that his country is seeking security from Russia and is willing to discuss the uranium trade. He said the United States would not agree to heading to Iran for the possibility. A senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic negotiations, blamed dwindling military reserves and Niger’s military regime’s failure to chart a path toward a return to democracy.
This decision was not particularly surprising. Last month, Niger announced it was abandoning its military cooperation agreement with the United States following a series of highly controversial meetings with a high-level US diplomatic and military delegation in the capital, Niamey.
The move was in line with a recent pattern of countries in the Sahel region, an arid region south of the Sahara, cutting ties with the West. Instead, they are increasingly partnering with Russia.
U.S. diplomats have spent the past few weeks seeking to revise a military cooperation agreement with Niger’s military junta, but were ultimately unable to reach a compromise, U.S. officials said.
The talks broke down amid growing resentment over the US presence in Niger. Thousands of protesters in the capital demanded the withdrawal of U.S. military personnel last Saturday, just days after Russia delivered its own military equipment and instructors to the country’s military.
Niger’s rejection of military ties with the United States follows the withdrawal of troops from former colonial power France, which has led foreign counterterrorism operations against jihadist groups in West Africa for the past decade, but which has recently He is considered an outcast. .
U.S. officials said Friday that talks with Niger to plan an “orderly and responsible withdrawal” of troops will begin within days and the process will take months to complete.
Most of the Americans in Niger are stationed at the 6-year-old, $110 million 201st U.S. Air Force Base in the country’s northern desert. However, since the military coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and installed a military government last July, the local military has been inactive, and most MQ-9 Reapers have been inactive, except for surveillance missions to protect U.S. forces. Drones are grounded.
It is unclear what access the United States will have to the base in the future, or whether Russian advisers and possibly Russian air force will be stationed there should relations between Niger and the Kremlin deepen.
Because of the coup, the United States had to suspend security operations and development assistance to Niger. Eight months after his ouster, Bazoum remains in custody. Nevertheless, the United States wanted to maintain its partnership with the country.
But the surprise arrival of 100 Russian instructors and air defense systems in Niger last week made short-term cooperation even less likely. According to Russian state news agency Ria Novosti, the Russian soldiers are part of the Afrika Korps, a new militia that is linked to the Wagner Group, a military company that spread mercenaries and operations in Africa under the leadership of Emperor Evgeny V. It is intended to replace. Prigozhin died in a plane crash last year.
On Saturday, demonstrators in Niamey waved Russian flags as well as those of neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, whose military-led governments have also sought Russia’s help in the fight against Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked militants. .
U.S. officials said they had been trying for months to prevent a formal severance of ties with Niger’s military junta.
Kathleen Fitzgibbon, the new U.S. ambassador to Niger and one of Washington’s top Africa experts, has held regular consultations with the junta since officially taking office at the beginning of the year.
Molly Fee, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs who visited Niger in December, called for a swift transition to civilian rule and Mr. Niger’s release, but said the United States intends to resume security and development cooperation with Niger. said. Bazoom.
But the Pentagon is planning for the worst if negotiations fail. The Pentagon is in talks with several West African coastal states about establishing new drone bases as a backup to landlocked bases in Niger. Military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said talks were still in the early stages.
Current and former security and diplomatic officials said Niger’s strategic location and willingness to partner with the United States would be irreplaceable.
J. Peter Pham, former US special envoy to the Sahel, said in an email: States and their allies would also lose strategic military assets that would be very difficult to replace, at least in the short term. ”
