Niger breaks off military cooperation agreement allowing US military personnel on its territory News
Vincent van Zeijst, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Niger breaks off military cooperation agreement allowing US military personnel on its territory

Niger junta spokesman Colonel Amadou Abdramane declared in a televised announcement on Saturday that Niger’s military junta revoked with immediate effect a military accord with the US that allows military troops and civilian staff of the US Department of Defence on its territory.

The junta spokesman said the government decided to end military cooperation between Niger and the USment after taking into account the interests and aspirations of the Nigerien people. A military junta has been in power in Niger since a coup in July 2023, overthrowing President Mohamed Bazoum and installing General Abdourahmane Tiani as President of Niger’s new government.

The announcement comes after a US delegation, led by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee and including other US officials, visited Niger last week to meet with senior Nigerien government officials. However, the US envoy did not meet with President Abdourahmane Tiani.

Abdramane explained that the US delegation did not respect diplomatic protocol and did not inform the government of the date of its arrival, composition or agenda. He added that the Niger government disapproves of the US delegation’s desire to interfere with the choice of diplomatic, strategic and military partners of Nigeria in its fight against terrorism, and by doing so, the American delegation denies the “sovereign Nigerien people’s right to choose his partners and types of partnerships to genuinely fight terrorism, while the US made a unilateral decision to end the military cooperation between our two countries.”

The US had more than 2000 military personnel on Nigerien soil and invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Niger’s military training and equipment, but military assistance has been slightly curbed since July 2023. However, The US still kept about 1000 troops stationed in airbases in the north and the center of the country, performing flights over the Sahel, a vast region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to Sudan, where terrorist groups linked to Al Qaida and the Islamic State group operate.

This is the second time Niger has decided to end military cooperation with a Western country. The military Junta in Niger previously asked France to withdraw its military troops after massive protests swept the country. The final departure of French military troops occurred in December 2023, ending a decade of French military operations in the Sahel.

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