WASHINGTON — The United States will withdraw all its troops and equipment from a small base in Niger this weekend, and fewer than 500 remaining soldiers will leave a key drone base within the West African country in August, ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline set in an agreement with the brand new ruling junta, the American commander there said Friday.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman said in an interview that a lot of small teams of 10 to twenty U.S. troops, including special forces, have been deployed to other West African countries. But the majority of the troops can be sent to Europe, not less than initially.
The withdrawal of US troops from Niger following a coup last yr has far-reaching consequences for the United States, forcing troops to desert the important thing drone base that was used for counterterrorism missions within the Sahel, an unlimited sub-Saharan region where groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State operate.
Ekman and other U.S. military leaders have said other West African countries wish to work with the U.S. and might be open to an expanded American presence. He didn’t provide details on locations, but other U.S. officials cited Ivory Coast and Ghana as examples.
Ekman, who serves as strategy director on the U.S. Africa Command, is leading the U.S. military's withdrawal from the small base on the airport in Niger's capital, Niamey, and from the larger counterterrorism base in town of Agadez. He said there could be a ceremony on Sunday marking the completion of the withdrawal from the airport base, then the last 100 troops and the last C-17 transport plane would depart.
The junta agreement requires two-thirds of U.S. troops and equipment to be overseas by July 26, Ekman said. That deadline, which forced the Pentagon to act quickly, is a key reason why U.S. Africa Command will complete its withdrawal of all 1,000 troops from Niger ahead of schedule.
However, this also leaves a spot within the fight against terrorism that US authorities are struggling to fill as security threats from extremist groups within the Sahel region increase.
One of those groups, Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, referred to as JNIM, is energetic in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger and is in search of to expand into Benin and Togo. According to US authorities, these expansion sites could initially be used as bases for rest, recreation, raising money and collecting weapons, however the group has also carried out an increasing variety of attacks there.
“Niger has been tremendously helpful for us as a location because it is in the Sahel and borders the areas where the threat is most concentrated,” Ekman said. Now, he said, the challenge is to fight the insurgency while maintaining access from outside Niger, which makes things even harder.
He said other West African coastal states were concerned about threats within the Sahel and desired to speak about how they might work with American forces. Ekman added that the small teams of U.S. troops being deployed to other West African states wouldn’t be combat troops, but advisers, in addition to special forces, personnel recovery and reconnaissance forces.
Talks with other countries are ongoing, and Ekman said some may have an interest but unwilling to host more U.S. troops. One example, he said, is Togo, which lies on the coast southwest of Niger.
“Togo, in my opinion, is a partner that is friendly to the United States, but it is not yet clear to what extent it wants the presence of additional US military personnel there,” he said. “My assessment was: 'Not yet.'”
Speaking to Associated Press and Reuters reporters from the U.S. Embassy in Niamey, Ekman said that while U.S. troops will leave behind unusable portable buildings and vehicles as they leave Niger, lots of larger equipment can be removed. For example, 18 generators, each weighing greater than $1 million, can be faraway from Agadez, he said.
“Our goal in implementing this is to leave things in the best possible condition,” he said. “If we go out and leave a wreck behind, or go out with malice, or if we destroy things as we go along, we would be closing off options for future security relationships.”
Niger's ruling junta ordered U.S. forces to go away the country after the country's democratically elected president was overthrown by mutinous soldiers last July. French troops were also ordered to go away because the junta turned to the Russian mercenary group Wagner for security support.
In October, Washington officially labeled the military's seizure of power a coup, and US laws got here into force restricting military support and aid.
Ekman said he was told there have been fewer than 100 Russian soldiers at the bottom near Niamey and that they too would go away the country once that they had finished training Nigerien soldiers.
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