World News: Eviction by Niger Derails U.S. Plans

"NAIROBI -- When Niger ordered the U.S. to withdraw counterterrorism troops and aerial drones from the country, it drove the final nail into the coffin of American strategy to defeat a violent Islamist insurgency overrunning the heart of western Africa.

The decision to expel American forces will likely accelerate contingency plans that would pivot U.S. strategy from trying to defeat al Qaeda and Islamic State where they are strongest to trying to keep militants from infiltrating neighboring countries along the West African coast.

In meetings in Washington this month, Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine told Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell that virtually all of the 1,000 U.S. commandos and other personnel will have to leave, including those at a $110 million, U.S.-built drone base in the desert town of Agadez.

"Loss of basing in Niger complicates the Pentagon's ability to achieve U.S. security objectives in the region," a senior U.S. military officer said on Saturday.

Until last year's military coup, Niger had been the cornerstone of Washington's counterterrorism strategy in the region, with U.S. Green Berets advising local commandos during combat operations against what has become the world's most active Islamist insurgency. U.S. drones provided surveillance of insurgent activities.

Niger, with 1,000 American personnel, is by far the largest long-term U.S. position in western Africa, and their departure could leave just a few dozen troops split between Benin and Chad.

The coup triggered U.S. laws limiting security assistance. As the U.S. prodded the new regime to free ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and restore civilian rule, the Nigerien generals, led by President Abdourahamane Tchiani, became more prickly about the U.S. presence and began tilting toward Moscow.

This month, anti-U.S. protests broke out in the capital city, Niamey, days after Russian military instructors landed in the country.

In a private diplomatic message to 15 West African governments in March, the State Department signaled that, once out of Niger, the U.S. would shuffle military aid and forces to assist local troops in a ring of countries stretching around the perimeter of western Africa.

"We know these countries have long been concerned about the spread of extremism coming from the Sahel to these countries, and they've asked us for assistance," a senior U.S. official said. "And so we're looking at those requests, and we're trying to see what we can do."

Insurgents control vast swaths of the Sahel, a semidesert region south of the Sahara. More than 35,000 people have been killed in jihadist violence in the region since 2017, the overwhelming majority of them in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, according to the Pentagon's Africa Center for Strategic Studies, which analyzed figures collected by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. Acled is a U.S.-based, nonprofit monitoring service.

A planeload of Russian military instructors and weapons arrived in Niamey this month, Nigerien state television reported. "We're here to train the Nigerien military," said a man in camouflage fatigues, identified as a Russian military instructor.

The rupture between the U.S. and Niger accelerated after a heated exchange in March between junta leaders and visiting American officials. During that meeting, senior U.S. State and Defense officials accused the junta of secretly exploring a deal to allow Iran access to its uranium reserves, Nigerien and U.S. officials said. The Nigeriens denied such plans, but a junta spokesman called the American presence "illegal" and the U.S. delegation "condescending."

The Biden administration had hoped the generals would walk back the expulsion threat, but last week's meetings in Washington put an end to those hopes.

Campbell and other American officials plan to visit Niger to hammer out details of the U.S. withdrawal, a senior U.S. defense official said. "We cannot stay there against their will," the official said." [1]

1. World News: Eviction by Niger Derails U.S. Plans. Phillips, Michael M.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 22 Apr 2024: A.9.