In Niger, US seeks to hang on to its last, best counterterror outpost in West Africa
- As several European countries evacuate Niger since the coup, the United States is showing itself intent on staying
- Americans have made Niger their main regional outposts for patrols by armed drones and other counterterror operations
Ten days into a coup in Niger, life has become more challenging for US forces at a counterterrorism base in a region of West Africa known as the world’s epicentre of terrorism.
Flights in and out of the country have been curtailed as coup leaders require Americans to seek permission for each flight. Fuel shortages mean the US commander must sign off whenever an aircraft is refuelled.
And yet, as several European countries evacuate Niger, the Biden administration is showing itself intent on staying. It sees Niger as the United States’ last, best counterterrorism outpost – and until the coup, a promising democracy – in an unstable region south of the Sahara Desert.
Abandoning it risks not only a surge in jihadist groups, but even greater influence by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group.
While some European governments shut embassies and evacuated their citizens on military flights this week, as scattered anti-Western protests broke out following the coup, US diplomats sent home non-essential staff and some family this week but stayed on.
“The US embassy is open. We intend for it to remain open,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington.