Reporter | Anjing
Editor|Liu Haichuan
The Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have not hindered the game between Western countries and Russia in Africa.
After a coup d'état in the West African country of Niger in 2023, 1,500 French soldiers were driven out of the country. Before the coup, Niger was an important military position for France and the United States in the Sahel region of Africa, and it was also one of the African countries with the largest French military station.
After the French were driven away, the American army became the next target. On April 22, 2024, the U.S. Pentagon admitted that the U.S. is negotiating with Niger on the withdrawal of U.S. troops, and that the U.S. will end its 12-year military presence in Niger.
The ouster of the U.S. and French forces comes as Niger, once pro-Western, has strengthened its security cooperation with Russia. Last week, Russia's newly formed "Afrika Kops" arrived in Niger, and the Afrika Korps is taking over the operations of the Russian mercenary group Wagner in Africa. At the end of last year, the Afrika Korps appeared in Mali for the first time of the organization.
U.S. troops withdraw from Niger
Since 2020, coups have taken place in Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Niger in the Sahel region of Africa, and Guinea in West Africa. The Sahel region is a strip of more than 3,800 kilometers long between the Sahara Desert and the Sudanese grassland, spanning 10 countries including Senegal, Mauritania and Mali.
After the coup d'état, there was a wave of anti-French in the former French colonies, including Niger. At the strong demand of various countries, France withdrew its troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Mali and the other three countries have further withdrawn from the "five countries of the Sahel" established with the support of the West, and last year joined forces to form the "Sahel State Alliance" aimed at collective defense.
Related reading: The coup soldiers abused the military agreement with France, and Niger wants to abandon the West and join Russia?
After driving out the French troops, both Mali and Burkina Faso chose to strengthen security cooperation with Russia, and the Russian mercenary group Wagner became a counterterrorism partner for both countries. Niger, where 1,100 U.S. troops are still stationed, has become the only remaining key Western military stronghold in the Sahel, but subsequent U.S. moves have exacerbated the discontent of Niger's military junta.
After the coup, senior U.S. officials visited Niger several times to warn the country not to cooperate with Wagner and Iran. The United States also demanded that the Nigerien military release the detained President Mohamed Bazoum and restore Bazoum to power. To increase pressure, the United States suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Niger.
The official mission of the U.S. military in Niger is to assist the local military in fighting terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qaeda. But after four U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers were killed in an ISIS ambush in a joint operation in 2017, the U.S. military scaled back joint counterterrorism efforts with the Nigerien military.
After the coup in Niger, the U.S. military further suspended its counterterrorism operations and focused on protecting U.S. military assets. The weekly average of terrorist deaths in Niger was below 5 before the coup in July last year, rising to 15.7 after the coup, according to Code for Africa.
In March this year, Niger's military junta declared the military cooperation agreement signed between Niger and the United States in 2012 null and void, accusing the United States of manipulating and oppressing Niger, and demanding that the United States withdraw its troops immediately. In addition to the junta's discontent, anti-American voices are growing in Niger, with thousands of protesters marching in the capital, Niamey, demanding the immediate disappearance of US troops.
As protests in Niger intensified, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder confirmed on Monday that the United States is negotiating with the Nigerien authorities on an "orderly withdrawal of US troops".
Niger is rich in uranium resources and was once the third largest supplier of uranium to France, and Western energy giants such as Total have branches in Niger. At least five of the Nigerien coup soldiers have received training from the U.S. military, and the coup leader, Abdurrahman Kiyani, has been trained in the International Counterterrorism Program of the U.S. National Defense University. Niger also has the second-highest U.S. troop presence in Africa, after Djibouti, which has 4,000 troops.
The US military has two bases in Niger, one is the "101 Air Base" in Niamey and the other is the "201 Air Base" in Agadez, central Niger. The latter, which cost more than $100 million, is called the most difficult air base to build by the U.S. Air Force because of its remote desert location and poor construction conditions.
After the withdrawal of US troops, it is still unknown what will happen to the two bases. If Niger further strengthens its cooperation with Russia, the Russian army may also be stationed at the air base built by the US military at great expense.
More importantly, the loss of Niger's air base will affect the US military's aerial reconnaissance capabilities in Africa. In an attempt to remedy, the United States is negotiating with Benin, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to allow U.S. military reconnaissance drones to use local air bases.
However, the Critical Threat Project of the American Enterprise Public Policy Institute assesses that neither Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, nor Ghana can conduct drone reconnaissance in Libya, Tunisia and northeastern Algeria in Niger.
Afrika Korps
Just as U.S. troops were preparing to withdraw from Niger, Russia's Defense Ministry's newly formed Afrika Korps arrived in Niger last week, along with Russian air defense systems. A spokesman for Niger's military junta said Russian soldiers would be responsible for training Nepalien soldiers.
Last November, Afrika Korps members made their debut when they assisted Malian government forces in retaking the eastern town of Kidal from separatist forces. In January, the Afrika Korps posted a graphic on social media announcing the sending of 100 soldiers to Burkina Faso to protect Burkina Faso's president, Ibrahim Traoré.
After Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, the former leader of the Wagner Group who had staged the rebellion, died in a plane crash last year, the Russian Defense Ministry began work on the formation of the Afrika Korps. Unlike the Wagner Group, the Afrika Korps is directly headed by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus Bek Yevkurov.
Sergey Eledinov, a former official of the Russian army, wrote in Foreign Policy magazine that soldiers, strategists, analysts of the Wagner Group are being transferred to the Afrika Korps. These old members of the Wagner Group have two options: resign or sign a contract directly with the Russian Ministry of Defense. Wagner soldiers in Libya and Mali can continue to wear Wagner's insignia and emblem, as well as additional subsidies.
Wagner members in the Central African Republic have not signed new contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense, but the soldiers continue to assist government forces in the fight against rebels. Russia also plans to build a military base in the Central African Republic.
Before the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Wagner had already operated in Sudan, Mali, the Central African Republic, Chad and other countries, and at its peak had about 5,000 members in Africa. Companies linked to Wagner and Prigozhin also control gold mines, diamond mines, oil and gas fields, and forest rights in various countries. The Afrika Korps plans to recruit up to 20,000 members, and Wagner's assets in Africa will also be transferred to the Afrika Korps.
Related reading: Where does Wagner end up unknown, how wide is Wagner's global reach?
According to Defense News Network, Russia is preparing to complete the formation of the core structure of the Afrika Korps this summer, and the operations of the Afrika Korps will cover Libya, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Niger, Mali and other countries. There is information that Niger's neighbor Chad is also ready to demand the withdrawal of US troops from the country.
While the Afrika Korps is expanding its influence in the Sahel, Western countries have no intention of abandoning the region.
After the withdrawal of American and French troops, Italy and Germany still had hundreds of troops stationed in Niger. At the end of last year, the Italian army attaché was awarded a medal from the leader of the Nigerien military junta, Chiani, and Italy is also prepared to continue to maintain close communication with Niger as a representative of the West.
Last month, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told parliament that withdrawing from the Sahel is not in Italy's strategic interests and that Italy is ready to strengthen bilateral cooperation with Niger. In particular, he noted that the United States also believes that continued engagement in the Sahel is essential.