(Washington) The United States announced Monday that it had completed the complete withdrawal of its troops from Niger, in accordance with the demands of the military regime in power in this Sahelian country plagued by jihadist violence.
“The U.S. Department of Defense and the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Niger announce that the withdrawal of U.S. forces and equipment from Niger is complete,” the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in a statement. It took place “without complications,” it added.
This puts an end to the American military presence in this Sahelian country ruled for more than a year by a military regime.
The US military had already closed its last base in Niger, in Agadez, at the beginning of August, with the Pentagon assuring at the time that there were still “around twenty people” in Niger to ensure the withdrawal of the remaining US military equipment.
In recent years, Niger has been a pillar of American and French anti-jihadist operations in the Sahel, particularly since the military takeovers in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, hostile to Western armed forces.
But since the coup that overthrew designated president Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, 2023, the Nigerien military regime has moved closer to its Malian and Burkinabe neighbors – with which it formed the Alliance of Sahel States (ESA) confederation – and has driven the French and American armies from its soil.
The withdrawal of US troops from Niger began in May, following the government’s denunciation of the military cooperation agreement in March.
Despite this departure, the United States still has “common security objectives” with Niger, General Kenneth Ekman of AFRICOM had affirmed in early August. “We have completely honored their sovereignty. They asked us to leave, we complied and we did it peacefully and respectfully.”
According to him, the next step will be to “listen” to Niger’s needs for “a future relationship in the security domain with the United States.” “Their conditions were not to talk about the future until the withdrawal was complete,” he said.
On August 30, the German army announced that the last soldiers from its military base in Niamey had safely returned to Germany.