WASHINGTON: The US military is set to complete the withdrawal on Sunday (tomorrow) of its personnel from an air base in Niger, in the nation’s capital, and then will shift its focus to exiting a major drone base in the coming weeks, a general said on Friday. Niger’s ruling junta in April ordered the US to withdraw its nearly 1,000 military personnel from the country, in an embarrassing setback for Washington that followed a coup last year in the West African nation. Before the coup, Niger had been a key partner in the U.S. fight against insurgents in the Sahel region of Africa, who have killed thousands of people and displaced millions more. Washington is searching for a Plan B in West Africa but the process is slow and officials caution that US intelligence is dimming on the fast-growing extremist groups in the region.

Air Force Major General Kenneth Ekman, who is in Niger to coordinate the departure, said the US exit from Air Base 101 will be finalised with a ceremony on Sunday evening. The base is located next to Diori Hamani International Airport in the capital Niamey.

“We will do a joint ceremony on that occasion that marks the departure of the last U.S. C-17 (aircraft). The government of Niger will assume control of former U.S. areas and facilities,” Ekman said, speaking by video conference.

As the U.S. exits, Russia has deployed military forces to the same base, where they are carrying out training activities.

Drone base exit

Since 2020, soldiers in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have carried out coups, blaming civilian leaders for allowing Islamist militants to gain ground. Once in power, juntas have torn up defence agreements with US, French and UN forces.

Niger’s military rulers have given the US until Sept 15 to remove its troops, which also means leaving a $100-million drone base near Agadez in central Niger that had provided crucial intelligence about groups allied to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Ekman said the withdrawal from that base, known as Air Base 201, could be completed early and will likely happen next month.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2024