The United States agreed to withdraw more than 1,000 American soldiers assigned to a base in Niger in the coming months, thus responding to requests from the African country's military junta, officials from President Joe Biden's Administration told the Washington Post on Friday.
The decision follows the announcement by the Niger military junta on March 16 that it was revoking the military cooperation agreement with the United States, signed in 2012, alleging that the presence of US troops in that country is "illegal".
The White House had asked the military junta that controls Niger for explanations after the July 2023 coup d'état and which previously annulled military agreements with France, whose troops then left the country.
The troop departure calls into question the status of a $110 million U.S. air base in the African country that is only six years old and currently houses more than 1,000 troops.
The withdrawal of troops was sealed in a meeting between Undersecretary of State Kurt Campbell and the Prime Minister of Niger, Ali Lamine Zeine, during a meeting this Friday, according to information cited by the newspaper.
A senior State Department official told the Washington Post that it was agreed to resume talks "within a few days on how to develop a plan" to withdraw troops. The withdrawal is expected to be done in an orderly and responsible manner, the official added. The Pentagon, for its part, has not yet made official comments on the withdrawal of soldiers.
Following the overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum, Niger's military junta has sought to distance itself from its Western partners and strengthen military and economic cooperation with countries such as Russia. The rapprochement with Russia materialized with Prime Minister Zeine's visit to Moscow in January.
Terrorist groups loyal to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State operate in Niger, carrying out recurring attacks against security forces and civilians.
