Dakar, Senegal — The United States scrambled on Sunday to assess the future of its counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel after Niger’s junta said it would end years of military cooperation with Washington following a visit by top US officials.
The US military has stationed hundreds of troops at a major air base in northern Niger, which flies flights over the vast Sahel region – south of the Sahara – where jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State operate.
Top US envoy Molly Phee returned to the capital Niamey this week to meet with senior government officials, accompanied by Major General Michael Langley, head of the US military’s African Command. She had previously visited in December, while Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland traveled to the country in August.
The Foreign Ministry said in a message on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday that the talks were frank and that it was in contact with the junta. It was not clear whether the US still has any leeway to negotiate a deal to remain in the country.
Niger was seen as one of the last countries in the troubled region with which Western countries could work together to push back growing jihadist insurgencies. The US and France until recently had more than 2,500 troops in the region and, along with other European countries, had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid and training.
But that changed in July when mutinous soldiers deposed the country’s democratically elected president and months later asked French troops to leave.
The U.S. military still had about 650 troops in Niger in December, according to a White House report to Congress. The base in Niger is used for both manned and unmanned surveillance operations. In the Sahel, the US also supports ground troops, including accompanying them on missions. However, such guided missions have been scaled back since US troops were killed during a joint operation in Niger in 2017.
It is unclear what prompted the junta’s decision to suspend military ties. On Saturday, junta spokesman Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane said US flights over Niger territory in recent weeks had been illegal. Meanwhile, Insa Garba Saidou, a local activist who assists Niger’s military rulers with their communications, criticized US efforts to force the junta to choose between strategic partners.
“U.S. bases and civilian personnel can no longer remain on Nigerian soil,” he told The Associated Press.
After her December trip, Phee, the top U.S. envoy, told reporters she had had “good conversations” with junta leaders and called on them to set a timeline for elections in exchange for restoring military and aid ties. But she also said the US had warned Niamey against developing closer ties with Russia.
Neighboring countries Mali and Burkina Faso, which have each experienced two coups since 2020, have turned to Moscow for security support. After the coup in Niger, the army also turned to the Russian mercenary group Wagner for help.
Cameron Hudson, who served with the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department in Africa, said the incident showed the reduction of US influence in the region and that Niger was angry at Washington’s attempt to pressure the junta to flee Russia. “This is ironic because a mantra of the Biden administration has been that Africans are free to choose their partners,” he said.
The US delegation’s visit coincided with the start of Ramadan, a month of fasting from dawn to dusk and intense prayer for Muslims. Niger’s junta leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, refused to meet them. An American press conference at the embassy in Niger was canceled.
The junta spokesman said on state television that the junta leaders met the US delegation only out of courtesy and called their tone condescending.
Aneliese Bernard, a former US State Department official who specialized in African affairs and director of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, a risk advisory group, said the recent visit had failed and that the US should take a critical look at the way it conducts diplomacy do, not only in Niger. but throughout the region.
“What is happening in Niger and the Sahel cannot be viewed continuously in a vacuum, as we always do,” she said. “The United States government tends to operate with blinders on. We cannot deny that our deteriorating relations in other parts of the world: the Gulf, Israel and others, all have an influential impact on our bilateral relations in countries in West Africa.”
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Mednick reported from Jerusalem. AP Diplomatic Correspondent Matthew Lee contributed from Frankfurt, Germany.