The announcement from Niger’s military government could impact more than 600 American troops in the country and two drone bases.
The junta that has governed Niger since a July 2023 coup said that it is ending the country’s military agreement with the United States “with immediate effect.”
Colonel Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland military government (also known as the CNSP), announced the news on national TV on Saturday, March 16.
“The US presence on the territory of the Republic of Niger is illegal and violates all the constitutional and democratic rules which would require the sovereign people […] to be consulted on the installation of a foreign army on its territory,” Abdramane said.
It’s not immediately clear what this means for the hundreds of American troops currently operating inside Niger. According to a White House letter in December, the United States has 648 troops stationed in the country, down more than 400 personnel since prior to the July coup in NIger. American forces were providing training to security forces in the country prior to the coup, and have been operating a pair of drone bases in Niger.
