US to complete withdrawal from Niger base Sunday

The U.S. is set to complete its withdrawal of forces and equipment Sunday from an air base in Niamey, the capital of the West African country of Niger, with a joint ceremony marking the occasion.

Next on the U.S. agenda is its exit from a Niger drone base that is scheduled to be completed in August.

The departures are in compliance with a September 15 deadline agreed upon by the U.S. and Niger’s ruling junta, after Niger’s new military leaders ordered U.S. troops to leave following a coup in Niamey last year.

U.S. Air Force Major General Kenneth Ekman, in Niger to coordinate the exits, told reporters by video conference that the bulk of the U.S. forces in Niger will be transferred to European locations. However, he said small teams of U.S. forces have been relocated to other West African countries.

While the U.S. has withdrawn some valuable equipment from the bases in Niger, it is not destroying the equipment and facilities that are being left behind. Holding onto hope for the future, Ekman said, “Our goal in the execution is, leave things in as good a state as possible.

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“If we went out and left it a wreck, or if we went out spitefully, or if we destroyed things as we went, we'd be foreclosing options that both nations need for the future. And our security objectives are still entwined.”

The departures — especially the withdrawal from the drone base — are a blow to the U.S. and its counterterrorism missions in the Sahel, a vast African region where insurgents, linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State groups, operate.

Ekman, who is the director of strategy at U.S. Africa Command, said other African countries that are worried about the Sahel-based insurgent threats have approached the U.S. about how they can partner with U.S. forces to combat the militants.

“Niger was immensely helpful for us as a location because it was in the Sahel and it was adjacent to those areas where the threat is most concentrated,” Ekman said.

Now, the challenge will be more difficult, he said, because access to the area will have to be from outside Niger.