Illustration: Chen Xia/GT
According to reports from US media outlets, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell met with Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine on Friday in Washington DC. During this meeting, the US agreed to the Nigerien request for the withdrawal of US troops.
For a long time, Niger, located in West Africa, has been a strategic linchpin for the US and France in their efforts to combat jihadist groups in the region. In October 2015, the US and Niger signed a military cooperation agreement allowing the US to use military facilities within Niger in order to “work together in the fight against terrorism.” Currently, the US has two military bases in Niger, with approximately 1,100 soldiers stationed there. Among these, the US drone airbase, Air Base 201, near Agadez, Niger, was built at a reported cost exceeding $110 million. Why would the US agree to suddenly withdraw its troops from such an important “counter-terrorism” military base in West Africa?
In fact, the US’ decision to withdraw its troops from Niger is entirely a reluctant move. In recent years, West Africa has seen a frequent occurrence of military coups, ranging from Mali (August 2020 and May 2021) and Burkina Faso (January and September 2022), each experiencing two coups within less than a year, to the coup in Guinea (September 2021), the attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau (February 2022) and the coup in Niger (July 2023).
This series of events has been influenced by factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, difficulties in livelihoods, an increase in terrorist activities, as well as dissatisfaction with previous regimes by the coup leaders. It is also caused by the sentiment against the presence of external forces, such as France and the US, in the region and the ineffectiveness of their “counter-terrorism efforts.” Moreover, following the coup, the military governments in power in many of these countries have demanded that France and the US withdraw their troops.
France began deploying troops in Mali and the Sahel region under the banner of “counter-terrorism” in early 2013. In August 2014, France expanded its “counter-terrorism” operations in the Sahel region, deploying thousands of troops in Operation Barkhane. The US followed suit in October 2015 by deploying troops to Niger. Of course, “counter-terrorism” is not the only purpose of the French and US troops stationed in Niger. They are also there to limit the influence of Russia and China in the region, and also control Niger’s rich uranium resources.
However, after some 10 years of “counter-terrorism” by French and US troops, the result is that the region is becoming increasingly flooded with more poverty, chaos and terrorist activities. Instead of engaging in equal and effective cooperation with African countries in terms of economic and military development, France and the US have interfered in the internal affairs and diplomacy of these countries. This makes the local people see no hope for security and development, leading to a growing anti-France and anti-US sentiment among people in these African countries and opposition to their government’s “pro-France and pro-US” policies. For example, when the Mohamed Bazoum government was overthrown in Niger last summer, thousands of Nigerien demonstrators took to the streets to support the coup, surrounding and attacking the French embassy in Niger, chanting “down with France.”
Now, as France withdraws its troops from its former colonies in West Africa, Niger’s government is giving the US military its marching orders. During his visits to Mali in 2023, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also expressed the “African solutions to African problems” principle, whereby the countries of the continent agree on the path forward without any external player trying to impose any decision on them.
In fact, what is happening in West Africa is no isolated case. Regarding various major global hotspot and governance issues, many African countries and the Global South nations have issued clear voices advocating for independence, self-reliance, as well as expressing their opposition to power politics and foreign interference. They have also made clear their support for the foreign policy of peace, equality and diversity and the promotion of inclusive economic globalization.
The author is a research fellow of the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. [email protected]