International US military operations across the Sahel are at risk after Niger ends cooperation

[LeonardoBjj]

I think sadly the region itself it as hot mess regardless of who's in charge.

I can't blame Niger for trying something different. Had us and French military bases and troops there for ages and , Still getting fucked the entire time by terrorism whilst bankrupting themselves to maintain the French monopoly.

I mean they've been getting hit more and more frequently by terrorism in the past 12 years the us has established the military presence.

[ The withdrawal, expected to occur over the coming months, will mean the closure of a US drone facility, known as Base 201, at Agadez in the Sahara that was opened in 2018 at a cost of $110m.

The base, one of the main US drone facilities in Africa, has been used in operations against jihadist groups in the Sahel region and was reportedly the launchpad for a series of deadly strikes against Islamic State fighters in Libya in 2019.]

US to withdraw from Niger after security pact fails in strategic victory for Russia

Biden administration to rethink counter-terrorism strategy after breakdown of pact allowing US forces on soil to fight jihadists

www.theguardian.com

Do I think it will get any better under the new mob with Russia? Highly highly unlikely imo. But I really can't blame them for trying something different at this stage.

- It's over. USA to withdraw fro,m Sahel. Place will become even more nightmarish!

US agrees to withdraw troops from Niger amid Sahel region’s pivot to Russia​

The US built a base in the desert city of Agadez at the cost of $100m for manned and unmanned surveillance flights.

The United States will withdraw its soldiers from Niger as the West African nation is increasingly turning to Russia and away from Western powers.

The US Department of State agreed to pull out about 1,000 troops from the country that has been under military rule since July 2023, US media reported late on Friday.

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine met on Friday, the reports said, with Washington committing to begin planning an “orderly and responsible” withdrawal of its troops from the country.

The US built a military base in Niger to combat armed groups that pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) in the Sahel region, which also includes Burkina Faso and Mali.

The major airbase in Agadez, some 920km (572 miles) from the capital Niamey was used for manned and unmanned surveillance flights and other operations.

Known as Air Base 201, it was built at a cost of more than $100m. Since 2018, it has been used to target ISIL fighters and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate.

While maintaining a line of communication with the military government in Niger, the US military had started preparing for the possibility of having to withdraw, with US General James Hecker saying last year that Washington is probing “several locations” elsewhere in West Africa to station its drones.

Nigerien state television reported that US officials would visit next week. There was no public announcement from the State Department on the withdrawal and officials said no timeline had yet been set.

Niger announced in March that it had suspended a military agreement with the US and would pursue a withdrawal of its soldiers.

The US is being forced to withdraw from Niger as it is not favoured either by the ruling military or by the population that is rejecting post-colonial forces. Protesters took to the streets in the capital earlier this month to demand the departure of US forces.

Like the military rulers in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, the West African nation had kicked out French and European troops following the military takeover.

All three countries have now turned to Russia for support, with Moscow confirming earlier this month that it has sent military trainers and an air defence system and other military equipment to Niger as it deepens its security ties.

Along with armed groups, the conflict-ridden Sahel region is also becoming an influential route for drug trafficking, with the United Nations saying 1,466kg (3,232 pounds) of cocaine were seized in Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Niger compared with an average of just 13kg (28.7 pounds) between 2013 and 2020.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024...from-niger-amid-sahel-regions-pivot-to-russia

 

[LeonardoBjj]

US says it will return to Chad for talks to keep troops in the country​

BY FRANCIS KOKUTSE
Updated 2:42 PM BRT, May 1, 2024

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — The U.S. military plans to return to Chad within a month for talks about revising an agreement that allows it to keep troops based there, an American general said Wednesday.

The U.S. said last month it was withdrawing most of its contingent of about 100 troops from Chad after the government questioned the legality of their operations there. This followed Niger’s decision to order all U.S. troops out of the country, dealing a blow to U.S. military operations in the Sahel, a vast region south of the Sahara desert where groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate.

U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, made the comments to reporters in Ghana at the second annual African Maritime Forces Summit, or AMFS.

He said the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Chad was expected to be temporary, and Chad had communicated to Washington that it wanted to continue the security partnership after the presidential election there.

“We’ll come back for discussions within a month to see in what ways, and what they need, to be able to build further in their security construct and also against terrorism,” Langley said.

Government officials in Chad couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The presidential election in Chad is scheduled for Monday, and analysts expect the incumbent to win.

Chad’s interim president, Mahamat Deby Itno, seized power after his father, who ran the country for more than three decades, was killed fighting rebels in 2021. Last year, the government announced it was extending the 18-month transition for two more years, which led to protests across the country.

Langley said the withdrawal of U.S. forces was a temporary step “as part of an ongoing review of our security cooperation, which will resume after Chad’s May 6 presidential election.”

Both Chad and Niger have been integral to the U.S. military’s efforts to counter violent extremist organizations across the Sahel region, but Niger’s ruling junta ended an agreement last month that allows U.S. troops to operate in the West African country.

Niger is home to a major U.S. air base, in the city of Agadez, about 920 kilometers (550 miles) from the capital, Niamey, using it for manned and unmanned surveillance flights and other operations. The U.S. has also invested hundreds of millions of dollars in training Niger’s military, since it began operations there in 2013.

https://apnews.com/article/us-troop...ism-military-6880d9674d986eb892af088ecff12c6b

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Russian troops enter airbase in Niger where US soldiers are stationed​

Proximity of the two countries’ forces follows request by junta ruling west African nation for the US to pull its troops out

Russian military personnel have entered an airbase in Niger that is hosting American troops, after a decision by Niger’s junta to expel US forces from the country.

The military officers ruling the west African nation have told the US to withdraw its nearly 1,000 military personnel from the country, which until a coup last year had been a key partner for Washington’s fight against insurgents who have killed thousands of people and displaced millions more.

A senior US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Russian forces were not mingling with US troops but were using a separate hangar at Airbase 101, which is next to Diori Hamani international airport in Niamey, Niger’s capital.

The move by Russia’s military puts US and Russian troops in close proximity at a time when the nations’ military and diplomatic rivalry is increasingly acrimonious because of the conflict in Ukraine.


It also raises questions about the fate of US installations in the country after a withdrawal.

“(The situation) is not great but in the short-term manageable,” the official said.

The Nigerien and Russian embassies in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The US and its allies have been forced to move troops out of a number of African countries after coups that brought to power groups eager to distance themselves from western governments. In addition to the impending departure from Niger, US troops have also left Chad in recent days, while French forces have been kicked out of Mali and Burkina Faso.

At the same time, Russia is seeking to strengthen relations with African nations, pitching Moscow as a friendly country with no colonial baggage in the continent.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/10/10/russian-us-troops-in-syria-share-rare-moment-of-congeniality-a79045

Mali, for example, has in recent years become one of Russia’s closest African allies, with the Wagner group mercenary force deploying there to fight jihadist insurgents.

The US official said Nigerien authorities had told Joe Biden’s administration that about 60 Russian military personnel would be in Niger, but the official could not verify that number.

After the coup, the US military moved some of its forces in Niger from Airbase 101 to Airbase 201 in the city of Agadez. It was not clear what US military equipment remained at Airbase 101.

The US built Airbase 201 in central Niger at a cost of more than $100m. Since 2018 it has been used to target Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen fighters with armed drones.

Washington is concerned about Islamic militants in the Sahel region, who may be able to expand without the presence of US forces and intelligence capabilities.

Niger’s move to ask for the removal of US troops came after a meeting in Niamey in mid-March, when senior US officials raised concerns including about the expected arrival of Russia forces and reports of Iran seeking raw materials in the country, including uranium.

While the US’s message to Nigerien officials was not an ultimatum, the official said, it was made clear American forces could not be on a base with Russian forces.

“They did not take that well,” the official said.

A two-star US general has been sent to Niger to try to arrange a professional and responsible withdrawal.

While no decisions have been taken on the future of US troops in Niger, the official said the plan was for them to return to US Africa Command’s home bases in Germany.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/a...base-in-niger-where-us-soldiers-are-stationed

 

[Videer]

IS just intensifying attacks as Pentagon orders all troops to withdraw from Niger.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/10/pentagon-orders-all-us-combat-troops-to-withdraw-from-niger-00157329

 

[LeonardoBjj]

IS just intensifying attacks as Pentagon orders all troops to withdraw from Niger.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/10/pentagon-orders-all-us-combat-troops-to-withdraw-from-niger-00157329

- We had russian and american troops on the same base a couple of day ago. I dont think is very smart to get in a fight, with two power-house nations!

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Niger’s prime minister blames US for rupture of military pact​

Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine says in interview that US troops ‘stayed on our soil, doing nothing while terrorists killed people’

Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, Niger’s prime minister, has blamed the US for a rupture in an important military pact between the two countries that allows US forces to station in the west African nation.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Zeine said US officials had attempted to dictate which countries Niger could align with, had failed to justify the presence of US troops in the country while “doing nothing” to counter an Islamist insurgency in the region.

“The Americans stayed on our soil, doing nothing while the terrorists killed people and burned towns,” Zeine told the Post. “It is not a sign of friendship to come on our soil but let the terrorists attack us. We have seen what the United States will do to defend its allies, because we have seen Ukraine and Israel.”

Last year, a military coup d’état ousted Niger’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. Washington then froze security support and paused counter-terrorism activities run out of Air Base 201, where the US conducts drone surveillance of the Islamic State and al-Qaida-affiliated groups in the Sahel and stationed more than 1,000 military personnel.

Last month, the US acted on Niger’s demands that US troops leave and agreed to withdraw its forces.

The cancellation of the US-Niger security pact has stirred fears of a loss of US influence and a replacement by Russian power in west Africa. Neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, where Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has established a presence, are already considered to be close to Moscow.

After last July’s coup in Niger and before his assassination in August, the Wagner group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, issued a statement welcoming the new military government and offering it Wagner’s services.

US diplomats and military officials made a counter-offer designed to keep cooperation in place, but Russia has dispatched troops to the capital, Niamey. Russian and US troops now occupy opposite ends of an airbase.

In his interview with the Post, Zeine revealed the extent of the breakdown in US-Niger relations.

Zeine said leaders of Niger’s new government, known as the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland, or CNSP, were unhappy that the US had frozen military support but kept US troops in the country.

Gen Michael Langley, head of the US Africa Command, told a Senate armed services committee meeting in March that while the US was no longer conducting counter-terrorism operations from Niger, a US military presence in the region was necessary to counter Russian encroachment.

“I’d say that a number of countries are at the tipping point of actually being captured by the Russian Federation as they are spreading some of their false narratives across Libya,” he said. “At [an] accelerated pace, [the] Russian Federation is really trying to take over central Africa, as well as the Sahel.”

Zeine said that the US response to Niger’s coup contrasted with responses from Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that had welcomed the new leadership in Niamey with “open arms”.

“Nigeriens were saying, ‘Americans are our friends, they will help us this time to annihilate the terrorists.’ But there was radio silence,” Zeine told the newspaper, adding that Niger would have not looked to Russia for help if the US had responded to requests for more support, including for planes, drones and air defense systems.

But he also said he had told the US delegation that Niger still desired economic and diplomatic relations with the US. “If American investors arrived, we would give them what they wanted. We have uranium. We have oil. We have lithium. Come, invest. It is all we want.”

Zeine told the Post he took offense at remarks by Molly Phee, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, who he said had directed Niger to resist engaging with Russia and Iran if it wanted to continue its security relationship with the US and threatened sanctions if Niger pursued a deal to sell uranium to Iran. Zeine said that “absolutely nothing” has been signed with Iran.

The Niger leader said he had told Phee that she had “come here to threaten us in our country. That is unacceptable. And you have come here to tell us with whom we can have relationships, which is also unacceptable. And you have done it all with a condescending tone and a lack of respect.”

In a response, a US official told the Washington Post that the message relayed to Niamey was “delivered in a professional manner, in response to valid concerns about developments”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/14/niger-us-military-agreement

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Niger’s prime minister blames US for rupture of military pact​

Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine says in interview that US troops ‘stayed on our soil, doing nothing while terrorists killed people’

Supporters of Niger's ruling junta hold a Russian flag during a protest pushing back against foreign interference in Niamey on 3 August 2023. Photograph: Sam Mednick/AP

Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, Niger’s prime minister, has blamed the US for a rupture in an important military pact between the two countries that allows US forces to station in the west African nation.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Zeine said US officials had attempted to dictate which countries Niger could align with, had failed to justify the presence of US troops in the country while “doing nothing” to counter an Islamist insurgency in the region.

“The Americans stayed on our soil, doing nothing while the terrorists killed people and burned towns,” Zeine told the Post. “It is not a sign of friendship to come on our soil but let the terrorists attack us. We have seen what the United States will do to defend its allies, because we have seen Ukraine and Israel.”

Last year, a military coup d’état ousted Niger’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. Washington then froze security support and paused counter-terrorism activities run out of Air Base 201, where the US conducts drone surveillance of the Islamic State and al-Qaida-affiliated groups in the Sahel and stationed more than 1,000 military personnel.

Last month, the US acted on Niger’s demands that US troops leave and agreed to withdraw its forces.

The cancellation of the US-Niger security pact has stirred fears of a loss of US influence and a replacement by Russian power in west Africa. Neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, where Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has established a presence, are already considered to be close to Moscow.

After last July’s coup in Niger and before his assassination in August, the Wagner group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, issued a statement welcoming the new military government and offering it Wagner’s services.

US diplomats and military officials made a counter-offer designed to keep cooperation in place, but Russia has dispatched troops to the capital, Niamey. Russian and US troops now occupy opposite ends of an airbase.

In his interview with the Post, Zeine revealed the extent of the breakdown in US-Niger relations.

Zeine said leaders of Niger’s new government, known as the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland, or CNSP, were unhappy that the US had frozen military support but kept US troops in the country.

Gen Michael Langley, head of the US Africa Command, told a Senate armed services committee meeting in March that while the US was no longer conducting counter-terrorism operations from Niger, a US military presence in the region was necessary to counter Russian encroachment.

“I’d say that a number of countries are at the tipping point of actually being captured by the Russian Federation as they are spreading some of their false narratives across Libya,” he said. “At [an] accelerated pace, [the] Russian Federation is really trying to take over central Africa, as well as the Sahel.”

Zeine said that the US response to Niger’s coup contrasted with responses from Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that had welcomed the new leadership in Niamey with “open arms”.

“Nigeriens were saying, ‘Americans are our friends, they will help us this time to annihilate the terrorists.’ But there was radio silence,” Zeine told the newspaper, adding that Niger would have not looked to Russia for help if the US had responded to requests for more support, including for planes, drones and air defense systems.

But he also said he had told the US delegation that Niger still desired economic and diplomatic relations with the US. “If American investors arrived, we would give them what they wanted. We have uranium. We have oil. We have lithium. Come, invest. It is all we want.”

Zeine told the Post he took offense at remarks by Molly Phee, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, who he said had directed Niger to resist engaging with Russia and Iran if it wanted to continue its security relationship with the US and threatened sanctions if Niger pursued a deal to sell uranium to Iran. Zeine said that “absolutely nothing” has been signed with Iran.

The Niger leader said he had told Phee that she had “come here to threaten us in our country. That is unacceptable. And you have come here to tell us with whom we can have relationships, which is also unacceptable. And you have done it all with a condescending tone and a lack of respect.”

In a response, a US official told the Washington Post that the message relayed to Niamey was “delivered in a professional manner, in response to valid concerns about developments”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/14/niger-us-military-agreement

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

You may want to edit your thread title, I think it's frowned upon to use that word these days.

I recall when Nigeria played Germany in the soccer world cup, both teams had the abbreviation of their first three letters and they listed Nigeria first.