NIGER COUP: US to Withdraw Military Presence From Niger

 

General James Hecker Commander of U.S Air Force for Africa.

The Air Force commander for Africa warned on Friday that the United States is preparing to evacuate two crucial drone and anti-terror stations in Niger if that becomes necessary under the new ruling junta.

As part of that planning, the United States is looking for U.S. allies in the Saharan and Sahel regions, some of the world's most active hotspots for extremist organisations linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State, "that we could maybe partner up with, and then move our assets there," Air Force Gen. James Hecker told reporters in Washington. 

Hecker emphasised that the Biden administration had not made a judgement regarding whether the removal of the country's democratically elected president by the Niger military on July 26 would require American diplomats or security personnel to leave the country.

In an area where coups are becoming more frequent and the Wagner mercenary force of Russia is expanding, U.S. facilities there have served as crucial anti-terror posts. 

The capital city of Niamey and the isolated city of Agadez on the edge of the Sahara are both home to U.S. air bases.

Hecker stated that if U.S. personnel do go, whether as a result of the Biden administration's judgement that it cannot cooperate with the rebellious soldiers currently in charge of the nation or because the junta orders them to do so, "it obviously will have an effect" on counterterrorism and intelligence efforts on the part of the United States.

He said, "But of course, what we hope for is that we have a peaceful diplomatic solution to this and we don't have to" depart.

President Mohamed Bazoum and his family are still being held captive in the presidential palace by the chief of the Niger's presidential guard, who also ordered the coup. 

According to U.S. diplomats, junta leaders have threatened to murder Bazoum if Niger's West African neighbours take military action to return Bazoum to power. 

The first peaceful and democratic transfer of power in the coup-prone nation since its independence from France in 1960 occurred when Bazoum assumed president in 2021.

The United States hasn't openly referred to what transpired in Niger as a coup. this description might force Washington to sever many of the bilateral military and security ties. 

If it does come to that, Hecker said he thought it would be "weeks or much longer" before American officials announced any sort of decision to evacuate. 

There were fewer and fewer nations in West Africa's Sahara and Sahel areas that were neither governed by a military-backed government or allied with Russian mercenaries than Niger.

Hecker made no mention of the nations that the United States was considering as a backup counterterrorism station in West Africa in the event that Niger proved to be untenable.

We've only recently begun investigating that, he added. In terms of the decision-making process, American military officials stated that "we know where we would like the base to be, but more of that is going to be diplomatic." 

General James Hecker

Hecker claimed that the preventive planning for evacuation covered both situations in which the Americans could leave at their leisure and those in which they would need to leave quickly, taking only the most sensitive equipment.

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