Thousands of protesters gathered in Niger’s capital on Saturday calling for the withdrawal of US military personnel stationed in the West African nation, just days after Russia delivered its own array of military equipment. and instructor in the country’s military.
The demonstration in the capital, Niamey, fits a well-known pattern in several countries in the region, run by military juntas, which have cut ties with Western countries in recent years and turned to Russia instead to fight the extremist insurgency.
“US Army, leave, move, you’re gone,” read a sign waved by one protester. “No bonus, no negotiation.”
About 1,000 American military personnel are stationed at a remote drone base in the Niger desert, where they fly drones that track the movements of extremist groups in Niger and across the region.
But the United States suspended its military cooperation with Niger’s military last summer, when mutinous soldiers seized power in the country. That rift keeps the drones grounded and the troops inactive. Last month, Niger ordered US troops to leave, declaring their presence illegal.
A US State Department spokesman said America remained in dialogue with Nigerien authorities about its military presence and cooperation in the country.
But the sudden arrival of 100 Russian instructors and an air-defense system in Niger this past week will make the prospect of cooperation more uncertain in the short term. According to Russia’s state-owned news outlet Ria Novostithe Russian personnel are part of the Africa Corps, the new paramilitary structure intended to replace the Wagner group, the military company whose mercenaries and operations spread across Africa under the leadership of its former leader, Yevgeny V Prigozhin.
“We are here to train the Niger Army to use the military equipment that is here,” a Russian trainer said in a broadcast on Niger’s national television this past week, standing in front of a Russian military plane. “We are here to develop military cooperation between Russia and Niger.”
Mohamed Bazoum, the democratically elected president of Niger who was imprisoned by his own presidential guard in July, has been held captive in his private residence in Niamey since then, with no access to the outside world or his lawyers. He refused to resign.
Demonstrators in Niamey on Saturday waved the flags of Russia as well as those of Burkina Faso and Mali, two neighboring countries whose military-led governments have also called on Russian aid to help fight rebels affiliated with Islamic State and Al Qaeda.
All roads leading to the US Embassy, several miles from the square, were blocked.
Unlike previous protests – against France, a former key partner of Niger that withdrew its troops last year amid a toppling of the junta – Saturday’s demonstration remained calm. But the message is clear.
“We don’t understand that the American base on our territory does not stop the terrorists from killing our soldiers,” said Mariama Saley, 40, who described herself as a civil society activist. “The Americans will leave Niger like the French before them.”
“We need partners who will end terrorism,” said another protester, Amadou Soumana.
Niger’s government spokesman and a close aide of the country’s current leader, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani.
A senior US official said that despite demonstrations and public calls for US troops to leave, senior ministers in Niger’s military-led government are privately calling for changes to the security partnership with the United States, not to abandon it. The US official spoke on condition of anonymity to comment on diplomatic discussions.
Niger’s alliance with Russia goes back years: Niger bought military helicopters from Russia in 2016, and the two countries signed an agreement on military cooperation and training two years later. But at the same time, governments in the Sahel region, the dry land south of the Sahara that includes Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, have begun to rely on the United States and European countries to train their troops and collect intelligence. in armed groups.
That time is over, say Western diplomats and analysts. The delegation left from Washington and the top US commander for Africa, Gen. Michael E. Langley, who visited Niger last month without meeting with General Tchiani, the country’s leader.
Niger later criticized the delegation’s “condescending attitude” and blamed US officials for threatening reprisals if Niger partnered with American rivals such as Russia and Iran.
“The United States has asked Niger to choose a side,” a Western diplomat based in a Sahel country said on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing diplomatic tensions. “Well, they have now.”
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.
