“Exchanges” are taking place between the Nigerien and French armies on the withdrawal of “certain French military elements” in Niger, while the generals who have taken power are demanding the departure of the French soldiers, the Ministry of the Armed Forces said on Tuesday, September 5. “Discussions on the withdrawal of certain military elements have begun,” said the ministry, without specifying which units were concerned among the 1,500 French soldiers deployed in the Sahelian country to support the anti-jihadist fight there.
The generals who took power in Niger at the end of July in a coup d’etat denounced several military cooperation agreements with Paris on August 3. Since then, the French armies no longer support the Nigerien soldiers on the ground. Thus “the question of maintaining some of our forces arises”, according to the ministry, in particular the units responsible for maintaining equipment that has not been used on site for more than a month, such as drones, helicopters or fighter. “Functional coordination exchanges exist locally between soldiers to facilitate the movement of French military resources immobilized since the suspension of anti-terrorist cooperation” after the coup, the minister’s entourage had indicated earlier, without specifying the nature of these “movements”, their scale or their unfolding.
Monday, September 4, the Nigerien Prime Minister appointed by the military in power, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, said that “exchanges” were taking place to obtain the departure of French soldiers. The “exchanges that are underway should very quickly allow” their withdrawal, he said during a press conference. However, he assured that his government hoped “if possible to maintain cooperation with a country with which we have shared a lot of things”.
France, a former colonial power, regularly reaffirms that it does not recognize the new authorities in Niamey and is maintaining its ambassador and its soldiers in Niger for the time being, despite the injunctions of the new authorities having dismissed President Mohamed Bazoum. Paris has also ruled out so far a military withdrawal from Niger, where 1,500 soldiers and airmen are deployed at the planned Niamey air base as well as in Ouallam and Ayorou, alongside the Nigeriens, in the so-called “three borders” zone between Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, which serves as a sanctuary for jihadists from the Islamic State group.