The Pentagon told reporters on Monday “ongoing discussions” remain underway with the coup regime in Niger, expressing hope to maintain America’s military presence in the country after the regime announced this weekend it was ending its military cooperation with the U.S.
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh asserted that the administration of President Joe Biden was “aware” of a statement by the Nigerien military junta on March 16 that condemned Washington for its “patronizing” attitude and ordered all American soldiers to leave.
The statement followed extensive talks with an American delegation to Niamey, the national capital, in which the Biden representatives reportedly emphasized concerns that the junta regime would seek to expand ties to rogue states such as Iran and Russia, jeopardizing the safety of the U.S. servicemembers there.
“We are working through diplomatic channels to seek clarification. These are ongoing discussions,” Singh said.
File/Malian and Mauritanian soldiers take part in training at the Kamboinsé general Bila Zagre military camp near Ouagadougo in Burkina Faso during a military anti-terrorism exercise with U.S. Army instructors on April 12, 2018. (ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty)
Voice of America reported that Singh emphasized the Biden administration wanted “to see our partnership continue if there is a pathway forward.”
The State Department appeared to support the Pentagon’s stance, telling reporters on Monday that cooperation with states in the region was “mutually beneficial and … intended to achieve … detecting, deterring, and reducing terrorist violence.”
Niger has been ruled by the “National Council for the Safeguard of the Fatherland,” a military junta led by former Nigerien presidential guard leader Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, since July when the soldiers seized national airwaves and announced the abduction and removal of then-President Mohamed Bazoum. Bazoum’s administration was allied with the United States and allowed the Pentagon to maintain a drone base and other facilities in the country to fight regional jihadist terrorist organizations.
In August, Bazoum issued a demand for an American military invasion of his country via an op-ed in the Washington Post that went ignored. Biden evacuated “non-emergency” American embassy staff in response to the coup.
The “National Council for the Safeguard of the Fatherland” has distanced itself from Niger’s former colonial ruler France and the greater West. It has also had a fraught relationship with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional commercial and diplomatic body, which it pulled Niger out of in January. ECOWAS activated its militaries and threatened to invade Niger in August, but backed down after neighboring coup regimes Burkina Faso and Mali said doing so would be a “declaration of war” against their own countries, as well.
An infographic titled “Niger: One of world’s most important uranium suppliers” is created in Ankara, Turkiye on August 1, 2023. The military coup in Niger on July 26 has put the spotlight on the country’s uranium reserves. (Omar Zaghloul/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The Niger coup regime has insisted that it would respect international agreements that existed under Bazoum and that it does not seek conflict with those countries.
A regime spokesman, Col. Amadou Abdramane, announced on Saturday that the junta would end “with immediate effect the agreement relating to the status of United States military personnel and civilian employees of the U.S. Department of Defense on the territory of the Republic of Niger.”
Abdramane said his regime denounced “with force the patronizing attitude accompanied by the threat of retaliation on the part of the American delegation” that visited a week ago.
“The US presence on the territory of the Republic of Niger is illegal and violates all the constitutional and democratic rules which would require the sovereign people,” he claimed. He accused Washington of making “false allegations” that Niger had signed a secret agreement with Iran and suggested that the allegation was a precursor to an American invasion of the country.
“This cynical approach – usually used by the United States to discredit, demonize and justify their threat against the States – is reminiscent of the example of the second war of Iraq,” he claimed.
Abdramane also added that the country enjoys a partnership with Russia to buy military equipment “necessary for its fight against terrorism.”
Singh, the Pentagon spokesperson, confirmed to reporters that the Biden administration delegation discussed “potential relationships with Russia and Iran” during its visit to Niger last week.
“The lengthy and direct discussions included an exchange of views on how to chart a new path of cooperation forward, emphasizing the importance of respecting Niger’s sovereignty, and concerns from both sides,” she noted.
The delegation followed a similarly fruitless diplomatic endeavor by the Biden administration in the first days of the military regime. In August, an American delegation led by then-Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland visited the country, demanding to meet Bazoum to no avail. She reportedly held a two-hour meeting with junta leaders in an attempt to establishing a functional relationship with them, but the meeting did not result in any visible improvement in ties.
The Pentagon clarified on Monday that it currently has “about 1,000 U.S. military personnel, including contractors, in Niger.” Most of them, the military outlet Stripes reported, are located on an over-$100-million drone base in Agadez, far from the capital. That number is somewhat higher than the 648 members of the military that the Pentagon confirmed were in the country in December.