The US and Niger have agreed that American troops will leave the country “no later” than 15 September, they announced in a joint statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They said the two countries had “reached a disengagement agreement to effect the withdrawal of U.S. forces, which has already begun”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US has relied on Niger as its primary base for monitoring regional jihadist activity<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement commended the “joint sacrifices of Nigerien and U.S. forces in the fight against terrorism”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement said the withdrawal would not affect the continuation of US-Niger relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The United States and Niger are committed to ongoing diplomatic dialogue to define the future of their bilateral relations,” it read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deal was reached after marathon talks between the two countries in Niamey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March, Niger announced the end of its military agreement with the US. Military spokesperson Col Amadou Abdramane accused the US of raising objections about the allies that Niger had chosen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Col Abdramane condemned the US for its “condescending attitude” and “threat of reprisals”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tensions spiked between the US and Niger after elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, was overthrown last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Niger is in Africa’s Sahel region, considered the new global epicentre of the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
American forces have used two military bases in Niger to monitor Islamist militant groups in the Sahel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US built a $100m (\u00a380m) military base there six years ago in the central city of Agadez, 750km (460 miles) north-east of Niamey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has played a key role in the US strategy to combat jihadists in West Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US has more than 1,000 troops stationed at the base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the second Western power to withdraw from Niger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, Niger expelled former colonial power France’s troops, who had also been deployed to fight jihadists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Niger has distanced itself from the West, it has drawn closer to Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last month, Russian military instructors arrived in Niger as part of a new agreement with its military leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Niger has also broken away itself from local democracies and sought stronger regional alliances with fellow junta-led nations Burkina Faso and Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trio have quit Ecowas – the West African regional body which opposed their military takeovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have also quit the French-backed G5 Sahel force, saying it was ineffectual and undermined African sovereignty, and launched their own defence pact called the Alliance of Sahel States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US and Niger have agreed that American troops will leave the country “no later” than 15 September, they announced in a joint statement on Sunday. They said the two countries had “reached a disengagement agreement to effect the withdrawal of U.S. forces, which has already begun”. The US has relied on Niger as its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,16,15],"tags":[7,26,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-38934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-news","9":"category-politics","10":"tag-apie-project","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics"},"yoast_head":"\n