Hundreds of people took to the streets of Niger’s capital on April 13 to demand the withdrawal of US troops after authorities had terminated a military agreement with the US and welcomed Russian military instructors, according to African media.
The crowd marched through central Niamey waving Nigerien flags in a demonstration similar to the anti-French protests that triggered the withdrawal of French troops from Niger last year after the army seized power in a coup d’état.
We’re here to say no to the American base, we don’t want Americans on our soil.
Before the change of power, Niger remained a key security partner for France and the US, which used it as a base as part of international efforts to deter an Islamist insurgency in West Africa’s Sahel region.
However, the new authorities in Niger joined neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso in severing military agreements with former Western allies, withdrawing from the regional political and economic bloc ECOWAS and strengthening closer ties with Russia.
The arrival of Russian military instructors and equipment on Wednesday was further evidence of the authorities’ openness to closer co-operation with Moscow. It remains unclear, however, if and when US troops will leave the country.
One US programme in Niger is a drone base, known as Air Base 201, worth more than $100 million.
Violence in the central Sahel peaked in 2023, with conflict-related deaths in the region rising 38 per cent compared to the previous year, according to US crisis monitoring group ACLED.
