The US troop withdrawal from Niger, at the demand of the West African nation’s military rulers, has begun and will be over by September 15 ‘at the latest’, a joint statement said on Sunday.
The two sides announced they had reached a disengagement agreement and US forces deployed as part of an anti-jihadist mission have started to leave after Niamey claimed their presence was illegal.
The decision comes after several days of talks between a delegation from the US Department of Defence and Nigerien counterparts in Niamey this week.
Niger’s military rulers seized power in a July 2023 coup and scrapped a military cooperation deal with Washington in March.
The United States has around 650 soldiers in Niger with a major drone base near Agadez in the north of the country.
Niger has already overseen the withdrawal of troops from France, the former colonial power and traditional security ally, and has strengthened ties with Russia which has provided instructors and equipment.
The joint statement added that the US troop withdrawal would in no way affect ties relating to development in Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries.
With the US troop withdrawal from military-led Niger underway, Washington is preparing to abandon its strategic position in the Sahel where Russia and Iran are gaining ground.
The demand for US troops to exit came after French soldiers were also given their marching orders last year by Niger’s new ruling generals.
Niger announced in March it was ending a military cooperation agreement with Washington, claiming the presence of US soldiers was now ‘illegal’.
Since 2019, the US military has used drones and aircraft to carry out surveillance missions from the air base on Agadez’s outskirts.
The missions span a vast region where armed groups, particularly jihadists, operate. Drug, human and arms trafficking is also common.
US military service Reaper drones have been flying as far as the borders of neighbouring Libya, Chad, Nigeria and Mali which have limited aerial surveillance capabilities.
Niger demanded the US troop pull-out after Washington expressed concern about ‘potential Nigerien relations with Russia and Iran’.
The coup and subsequent breakaway from Western countries in favour of Russia followed similar moves in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali.
But Niger’s position as the world’s seventh-largest uranium producer plays an important role in the shifting relations.
Iran has significantly increased its stock of enriched uranium in recent months, while strengthening ties with Niger, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Prime minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine told the Washington Post in an interview published this month that a US official threatened Niamey with sanctions if it signed an agreement to sell the uranium it produces to Iran.
Zeine said that ‘absolutely nothing’ had been signed with Iran on uranium.
US soldiers deployed in Niger were estimated to number 650 by the end of 2023, as well as hundreds of contractors.
Some troops are stationed at an air base in the capital Niamey with other foreign troops, as well as in the US Agadez base.
The United States repositioned some of its troops from Niamey to Agadez in what it said was a precautionary move after the coup.
US special forces had been working alongside the Nigerien army to fight jihadist groups before the coup, when Washington suspended all military cooperation.
In October 2017, four American soldiers and five Nigerien soldiers were killed in an ambush by the Islamic State group in the village of Tongo Tongo near the Malian border.
US drones were also supporting the Nigerian army against Boko Haram and rival Islamic State West Africa Province jihadists in the southeast close to Nigeria.
In September, US intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations resumed solely to protect American forces, according to the Department of Defence.
The United States has supplied military equipment to Niger since 1962 after the former French colony gained independence.
Deliveries increased as part of the fight against jihadists, ranging from armed vehicles, surveillance and military transport aircraft to communications and transmission centres.
Niger’s army has also had access to a US security assistance programme, which provides funding for the education and training of foreign military personnel, since 1980.
Nigerien public opinion has long been hostile to the presence of foreign forces.
In 2022, around two-thirds of Nigeriens disagreed with government use of foreign military forces to secure the country, according to an Afrobarometer survey.Â
In terms of security, ‘the Agadez region finds no use for the presence of the Americans’, civil society leader Amodi Arrandishou said.
‘The Americans stayed on our soil, doing nothing while the terrorists killed people and burned towns,’ said Prime Minister Zeine, who led negotiations with the United States.
