Last March, the military junta that rules Niger requested that the Pentagon remove its forces from the two military bases in which they are stationed, one of which is in the city of Agadez and the other one is near the capital, with the stated purpose of controlling the activities of the Islamic groups settled in the Sahel.
The decision to request the evacuation of both bases was triggered by the conduct of a US delegation that visited Niger last March without prior notice with the mission of prohibiting the ruling junta from establishing contacts with another power, particularly Russia.
According to Nigerien Military Spokesman Amadou Abderahman, the visitors broke all diplomatic protocols. Washington was reticent about the military junta’s stance of diversifying its cooperation ties with ‘alternative’ powers (such as Russia), said the spokesperson, who highlighted the “haughty” attitude of the head of the delegation and undersecretary of State for African Affairs, Molly Phee.
The Nigerien side limited dissent to the US military presence, and announced that, for now, military cooperation remains in place.
The request to evacuate US troops coincided with a vast and failed diplomatic offensive conducted by the United States and former European colonial powers to hinder Africa’s support for Russia in the current circumstances of the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine.
In the vast majority of cases, with more or less subtlety, the African countries reminded visitors that unlike Washington, Moscow was a reliable ally during Africa’s struggle to free itself from bloody and centuries-old European colonial domination.
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