The withdrawal of 1,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Niger is underway, and all U.S. forces will be out of the West African country by Sept. 15, the U.S. and Nigerien governments announced Sunday.
The agreement, written in a joint statement by both militaries, spells out the terms of the withdrawal announced by the Biden administration last month. It also marks the beginning of the end of the Pentagon's most enduring counterterrorism partnership in Africa's turbulent Sahel region.
Defense Department official Christopher P. Meyer and U.S. military chief Lt. Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson met with representatives of Niger's military, led by Army Chief of Staff Christopher P. did. Maj. Mamane Sani Kiao said in a statement. It added that the meeting was aimed at “coordinating the orderly and safe withdrawal of U.S. forces from Niger.”
The Pentagon statement also said both militaries have established procedures to facilitate access for U.S. military personnel, including allowing military aircraft to fly and land. U.S. officials say Niger has balked at approving some of these permits in recent months.
“The withdrawal of American troops from Niger will be carried out by mid-September 2024 with mutual respect and transparency,” Niger's military said in a separate statement posted on social media.
The date was in line with what U.S. officials had expected, but was formalized after a meeting last week. About 100 U.S. soldiers have immediate medical needs, family obligations or are out of work due to earlier withdrawal decisions, said Kelly Cahalan, a spokeswoman for Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany. said Sunday that they had departed on commercial flights in the past week.
In a conference call with reporters on Sunday afternoon, a senior Pentagon official said that the U.S. military would take away all lethal or dangerous weapons and equipment, but that other items such as housing, generators, and air conditioning would be taken away for Nigerians. He said he would be left behind. Use.
Relations between the United States and Niger have steadily deteriorated since the military ousted the country's president, Mohamed Bazoum, last July. The Biden administration waited until October to formally declare the military takeover of power a coup, but this meant that the government deemed to have been established by the military coup would be subject to economic and military restrictions until the crisis was resolved and democracy was restored. They hoped to avoid a Congressional order to cut off aid.
But diplomatic talks remained inconclusive, and in March the junta announced it was ending its military cooperation agreement with the United States after a series of controversial meetings with a senior US diplomatic and military delegation in Niamey. Nigerian leaders have accused U.S. officials of telling them how to run the country, an accusation that Biden administration officials rejected.
Niger's decision followed a recent pattern of countries in the Sahel, an arid region south of the Sahara, cutting ties with the West. Instead, they are increasingly partnering with Russia.
In early April, about 100 Russian instructors and air defense systems suddenly arrived in Niger. 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.
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. .
Nearly 400 American personnel work at the air base in Niamey, and another 600 work at the 201st U.S. Air Force Base, a six-year-old, $110 million facility in the remote city of Agadez. . Since the coup, Agadez's military has been inactive and most MQ-9 Reaper drones have been grounded, except for surveillance missions to protect U.S. military personnel.
The loss of the two bases would be a blow to counterterrorism and broader security in the Sahel region, U.S. officials acknowledged. Officials said talks are underway with West African coastal states such as Ghana, Togo and Benin, but talks are still in the early stages.
“These bases have been a huge advantage for us in strategic access and influence, and also at the operational level,” Gen. Michael E. Langley, commander of the military's Africa Command, said in an interview last month.
A senior Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said the Pentagon may resume training and other security assistance in the future, adding that Nigerian military officers want to maintain ties with the U.S. military. He suggested that he was thinking that. Corresponding person. However, it is unclear under what new conditions this will become a reality.
It is also unclear what access the United States will have in the future to Agadez's vast base, and whether it will be occupied by Russian advisers and perhaps the Russian air force if ties between Niger and the Kremlin deepen. The joint statement released Sunday did not mention the fate of the base.
Ruth MacLean I contributed a report from Dakar, Senegal.
