After several months of negotiations and attempts by American officials to prevent the inevitable, a few days ago what many in Washington feared was finally confirmed – American troops will soon have to leave Niger.
“The loss of the base in Niger complicates the Pentagon’s ability to achieve US security goals in the region,” said an unnamed Pentagon official, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The new debacle of American foreign policy on the so-called He came to the Global South a few months after the French withdrew from that West African country, and their inglorious exit was greeted by columns of elated citizens armed with the flags of Niger and Russia.
Since the military junta took power in Niamey at the end of July last year, Niger – which for decades was considered one of the most reliable French and American allies in the region – has turned its back on its former partners and strengthened cooperation with nearby Mali and Burkina Faso, as well as with Russia and China.
The decision to expel American troops was preceded by a visit by US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Fee and the commander of the US Army’s Africa Command, General Michael Langley, which was announced in Washington even before Niamey agreed to it.
According to the American media, their approach during the entire visit was extremely condescending, and the Americans at the very beginning of the conversation verbally attacked their hosts for turning towards Russia and, to a lesser extent, Iran.
The visit was soon characterized as a complete fiasco to the extent that the leader of the junta, Abdurahman Tijani, refused to meet with the envoys from Washington. Thus, Washington’s last attempt to persuade (or more precisely, to force) the junta in Niamey to cooperate failed.
The withdrawal from Niger will not only represent a blow to American prestige – it will also have very real consequences for Washington’s ability to project its military power in West Africa, primarily due to the loss of key military bases.
About 1,000 US troops are deployed in Niger, making it the country with the largest US military presence in West Africa.
In the center of attention is the US military base 201, which is located in the desert in the north of Niger, about five kilometers south of the city of Agadez. It is the largest complex that the US military built independently and which was opened in 2019, in the construction of which the Pentagon invested 110 million dollars.
The base was used exemplarily as a launch site for MQ-9 “ripper” drones, which monitored much of West Africa. As things stand, the Americans could soon be without their largest and most expensive military base in the region.
According to the “Wall Street Journal”, the Pentagon has already announced that it will move its troops to other countries in the region, such as Mauritania, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
The US wanted to send the army to Chad as well, but they were met with a negative response from the authorities there.
West Africa has become the epicenter of Islamic fundamentalism in recent years, and an estimated 35,000 people have died in fighting with the jihadists since 2017.
It is precisely the inability of civilian governments in the Sahel region and their Western allies, primarily France and the USA, to prevent the escalation of violence that led to the strengthening of anti-Western sentiment among the local population.
This discontent was exploited by members of the armed forces, who seized power in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea through coups.
After the initial pressure of the Western countries and their African allies on the junta in Niger, which did not produce results, disagreements among the allies became more pronounced over time.
While the French remained uncompromising in their position that the army must withdraw and return the ousted President Muhammad Bazum to power, other European countries, such as Germany, Spain and Italy, took a more moderate position and called for cooperation with the junta.
At first, the Americans tried to take a somewhat “middle” position – which was seen in their refusal to call the change of power in Niger a “coup” for almost three months. That decision made it impossible for the Americans to continue military cooperation with Niger, and it encouraged the junta to turn even more towards Russia.
Washington was not helped by the condescending, one might even say neo-colonial, approach of its diplomats, which met with a cold reception in Niamey.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a bloc of countries led by Nigeria that threatened Niger with military intervention immediately after the coup, has also softened its approach, lifting sanctions against Niamey in late February.
Although EKOVAS claimed that the sanctions were lifted “exclusively for humanitarian reasons”, the fact that the junta did not meet any of the West African bloc’s conditions indicates that their strategy of maximum pressure has failed.
Meanwhile, Niger has strengthened cooperation with Mali and Burkina Faso – with which it formed the Sahelian Alliance – as well as with Russia, with which it reached an agreement on military cooperation in January. Moscow also sent a group of military instructors to the West African country.
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Source: RT
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