POWDER KEG AFRICA: Niger Protest Demands Departure of US Troops, Right as Russian Military ‘Instructors’ Are Welcomed
The rapidly changing situation in Africa’s Sahel region saw the collapse of French post-colonial rule, but American influence is also at stake in the wake of coups in multiple countries, ushering into power military juntas that are developing bilateral relations with Russia.
In the case of Niger, this situation escalated up to the point where the Niger Junta Severed the ongoing US Military Cooperation Agreement and Ordered its troops and civilian personnel out of the Country
A spokesman for the Niger military junta, Major Amadou Abdramane, stated clearly, with no margin for interpretation: ‘The American bases and civilian personnel cannot stay on Nigerien soil any longer.’
Since then, the US has been scrambling to assess the future of its ‘counterterrorism operations’ in the Sahel.
