WASHINGTON: Russian military personnel have entered an airbase in Niger that hosts U.S. troops, a senior U.S. defence source told Reuters. The move follows a decision by Niger’s junta to expel U.S. forces from the country.
The military ruling Niger recently told the U.S. to withdraw its nearly 1,000 military personnel from the country. Niger was a key partner for the US fight against insurgents until the coup last year. .
The Russians weren’t mingling with U.S. troops, but using a separate hanger at Airbase 101, a US official said. The airbase is next to Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, Niger’s capital.
The move comes at a time when Russia-US relations are increasingly acrimonious over the Ukraine conflict. It also raises questions about the fate of U.S. installations in the country following a withdrawal.
“(The situation) is not great but in the short-term manageable,” the official said.
The U.S. and its allies have been forced to pull troops out of several African countries following coups. Apart from the impending departure from Niger, U.S. troops left Chad recently. Similarly, French forces were kicked out of Mali and Burkina Faso.
Russian Moves
Meanwhile, Russia is aggressively wooing Africa, pitching itself as a friendly country with no colonial baggage Mali, for instance, is now one of Russia’s closest African allies. Russia’s mercenary force, the Wagner Group, is deployed there to fight jihadist insurgents.
The U.S. built Airbase 201 in central Niger at a cost of more than $100 million. Since 2018 it has been used to target radical Islamists in the region with armed drones. These include the Islamic State or Daesh and al Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen.
After the coup, the U.S. moved some of its forces from Airbase 101 to Airbase 201 in Agadez. It was not immediately clear what U.S. military equipment remains at Airbase 101.
US Concerns
Washington worries that Islamic militants in the Sahel region might expand without the presence of U.S. forces and intelligence capabilities.
At a meeting with the Niger military in Niamey in mid March, U.S. officials had raised several concerns. These included the arrival of Russian forces, and reports of Iran seeking uranium from Niger. They also made clear that U.S. forces could not share a base with Russian forces.
“They did not take that well,” the US official told Reuters. A day later, the US was asked to leave.
A two-star U.S. general has been sent to Niger to oversee the withdrawal o American forces. They would most probably return to U.S. Africa Command’s home bases in Germany, the official said.
(REUTERS)
