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Posted on August 7, 2024
Lecture: 2 minutes.
Monday, August 5 US military closes drone base in Agadez It was returned to the Nigerien authorities, completing a year-long withdrawal of soldiers from the country led by a military regime.
“We still have common security goals. We fully respect them. sovereignty. They asked us to leave, and we left We did it peacefully and respectfully,” said Gen. Kenneth Ekman of U.S. Africa Command (Africom).
Another “future relationship”
The senior official said the next step would be to “listen” to what people want. Niger For the future relationship exist security domain with the U.S. “Their condition is not to talk about the future until the withdrawal is complete,” he said.
Months after asking French soldiers to leave, Niger did the same to U.S. troops and denounced the cooperation agreement in March. army Cooperation with Washington, which he considered illegal. Soon, the two sides agreed on a timetable with a deadline of September 15.
Approximately ten U.S. personnel remain in Niamey to coordinate the movement of remaining military equipment, which will leave by land. USA There are more than 1,000 troops involved in the anti-jihadist fight in Niger, divided between the Niamey base, which was transferred in July, and the Agadez base. Since 2019, US drones and aircraft have been carrying out surveillance missions up to “on the Libyan border, of Chad, Nigeria or Mali.
“Dialogue with partners”
Asked about the possibility of remaining in Niger despite the presence of Russian trainers and the junta’s reconciliation with Moscow, General Ekman assured that Russia’s presence in Africa is “not new”.
“Some African countries have cooperation defense With Russia. When you are in the African security space, Russian equipment is all around you. The world is becoming more multipolar and our African partners have to make a choice,” he explained. And added: “But where Afrika Korps or Wagner It becomes difficult to operate. us Partners because of their approach. This is different. »
“We want to build relationships with every country in Africa on security issues, but everything depends on our common interests and the willingness of our partners,” Kenneth Ekman continued. Regarding redeployment to another African country, General Ekman did not want to name specific countries.
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” this Chad However, he said that “there seems to be a readiness for dialogue on future security partnerships in the Sahel,” while noting that the next step is to “talk to partners and understand their needs.” have The United States has said it wants to “work with the Ivorian army at its bases” and “build on existing partnerships,” particularly in the north of the country bordering Ivory Coast. Burkina Faso One you Maliwhere jihadists threaten East Strengths.
(AFP report)
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