US says troops are leaving Niger bases this weekend (www.militarytimes.com)

submitted 4 months ago by rainpizza@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will remove all its forces and equipment from a small base in Niger this weekend and fewer than 500 remaining troops will leave a critical drone base in the West African country in August, ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline set in an agreement with the new ruling junta, the American commander there said Friday.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman said in an interview that a number of small teams of 10-20 U.S. troops, including special operations forces, have moved to other countries in West Africa. But the bulk of the forces will go to Europe, at least initially.

Ekman and other U.S. military leaders have said other West African nations want to work with the U.S. and may be open to an expanded American presence. He did not detail the locations, but other U.S. officials have pointed to the Ivory Coast and Ghana as examples.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] freagle@lemmygrad.ml 21 points 4 months ago

I can't help but feel very mixed about this. Yes, it's good that America is getting the boot, but America wouldn't leave like this unless they had something to gain. They're not actually afraid of conflict with Niger, in fact I imagine they would welcome an excuse to get into a fight and increase their presence on the continent. What Niger needs is more African nations taking up anti-imperialism and instead it feels like Niger is going it alone. I seems like it will be trivially easy for the North Atlantic to carpet bomb Niger when it becomes convenient or strategic to do so, and to do it before anti-imperialist momentum builds so that they can send a signal like they did with Yugoslavia.

I hope I'm wrong, but I was excited about Niger's actions when they first started. Now I'm worried about the lack of falling dominoes on the continent.