The Russian plane landed quietly at the international airport in Niamey, Niger’s capital, around midnight, carrying air defense systems and troops to Moscow’s new ally in the Sahel.
The arrival of the 100 troops earlier this month sounded the death knell for the presence of US forces, based in the West African country since 2013 – and underlined Niger’s determination to diversify its security partnerships beyond the west.
It also marked another strategic victory for Moscow in the Sahel, the semi-arid strip south of the Sahara, where military governments have increasingly abandoned their traditional Western allies in favor of new alliances with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The shift in ties comes as a wave of insecurity and terror continues to afflict the Sahel, where Islamist insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS have wreaked havoc from Niger to Burkina Faso and Mali since more than a decade. Military juntas took power in all three countries as popular discontent grew over the failure of democratic governments and the West to stem the violence.
A wave of anti-French sentiment in former European colonies led to the rejection of French forces, while thousands joined protests in Niger, where the junta seized power in a coup in July , calling for the departure of American troops.
Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, senior Sahel analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Niger’s main reason for embracing Moscow was to “protect the regime”, particularly against France, which it has repeatedly accused to plot his downfall.
“One thing they fear is an air attack,” he said. “A country that will provide them with air defense, that’s where Russia comes in.
“It makes a lot of sense for [Niger] to embrace this new phase which is opening in the Sahel.
The withdrawal of US troops from Niger was triggered in March when a junta spokesperson called the military agreement between the two countries illegal and said it “violates all constitutional rules.”
Relations deteriorated during a visit to Niamey by U.S. officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee and the head of U.S. Africa Command, Gen. Michael Langley. Nigerien officials said the U.S. delegation was “condescending” and rebuffed their attempts to meet with junta leader Gen. Omar Tchiani.
Washington resisted a withdrawal even after Niger ended the deal allowing U.S. forces to operate in the country, insisting negotiations were underway with the regime.
Niger Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine, who was in Washington last week to attend the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank, met separately with US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell to discuss the relationship. He told the U.S. official that while his country favored cooperation in other areas, Niamey would not change its position on troops, a person familiar with the matter said.
Another person familiar with the matter said that although Washington would formally withdraw its troops from Niger as requested, the two sides had reached an agreement that would allow the United States to continue doing certain things in the country. The person declined to provide details of what was agreed.
The United States finally announced last week that it would withdraw more than 1,000 military and civilian employees, with the departure expected to take months. The fate of U.S. assets in the country, including the six-year-old drone base near the northern city of Agadez, is unclear.
The main source of contention during the Campbell-Zeine negotiations was a potential deal between Niger and the sale of uranium to Iran, according to U.S. officials familiar with the negotiations.
Uranium is Niger’s most important export product and the country is the second African exporter of this metal. Zeine visited Tehran in January, when the two countries agreed to cooperate in health, energy and finance. Iran is subject to international sanctions because of its nuclear ambitions.
Niger’s accession to Russia was widely seen as inevitable following warming ties following the coup that toppled the democratically elected government of President Mohamed Bazoum. The former leader remains in detention.
Criticized by France and the United States, which suspended nearly $600 million in military and economic aid following the coup, and initially shunned by the Economic Community of African States West, the junta has turned to Moscow to deepen its security and diplomatic relations.
Cooperation between Niamey and Moscow has intensified since the start of the year, with the Russian Defense Ministry saying in January that the two countries would work together to “stabilize the situation in the region”.
Putin and Chiani spoke by phone last month, and a Kremlin statement said they discussed a plan to “develop mutually beneficial cooperation in various areas” and coordinate “security and counter-terrorism efforts.” against terrorism” in the Sahel.
Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the troop withdrawal had left the US “on the outside looking in”.
As discontent brews in Chad, where the military government has asked U.S. troops to suspend activities at Adji Kossei air base, Hudson said Washington would be “deaf, dumb and blind” in the Sahel if its troops were there. also forced to withdraw. .
Russia’s state news agency Ria said the newly arrived soldiers belonged to the Africa Corps, a semi-official branch of the Defense Ministry that took over the private military company Wagner Group after the death of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin l ‘last year.
Speaking on the airport tarmac shortly after the Russians arrived, one of the soldiers said they had come to train the Nigerien army. Dressed in military fatigues, his face largely hidden by a snood, he declared: “We are here to develop military cooperation between Russia and Niger. »
