US forces complete exit from African state

Soldiers and military equipment have been removed from Air Base 201 in central Niger, according to a joint statement

The US Army has finished withdrawing from its last base in Niger, the Pentagon and the West African nation’s authorities announced on Monday, marking the end of Washington’s counterterrorism mission in a country plagued by jihadist insurgencies.

A joint statement from the US Department of Defense and the Nigerien Ministry of National Defense said American forces and equipment had been pulled out of Air Base 201 in Agadez.

“This effort began on May 19 following the mutual establishment of withdrawal conditions, and coordination will continue between US and Nigerien armed forces over the coming weeks to ensure the full withdrawal is complete as planned,” the two sides said.

The withdrawal comes nearly five months after Niger’s new leadership, which came to power after a coup in July 2023, terminated a defense agreement with Washington. The decade-old agreement had permitted some 1,000 American military personnel to operate in the landlocked state.

Niamey cited the alleged failure of US forces to combat militants, as well as American officials’ attempts to dictate who the African nation’s allies should be, as reasons for its decision in March. The military government has also severed ties with its former colonial ruler, France, forcing all French soldiers to leave the country late last year.

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Last month, US servicemen left Air Base 101, the first of two American military camps in Niger, located near the international airport in the capital, Niamey. Russian instructors have reportedly been deployed to the base to replace their American counterparts in training Niger’s military.

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Previously, the Pentagon and the Nigerien defense ministry had agreed to a complete disengagement by mid-September. However, in their joint statement on Monday, both sides said the “turnover was finished ahead of schedule and without complications” as a result of “effective cooperation and communication between the US and Nigerien armed forces.”