The United States intends to establish its military presence in coastal West Africa. This is despite its almost futile and continuous effort to maintain its influence in said West African countries. Niger is one such country that has shunned US military ties in favor of Russian collaboration.
As seen in the Russian newspaper. Sputnik, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced on Wednesday that the US Department of Defense is collaborating with the State Department to build a US military presence in coastal West Africa to better effectively engage with governments there.
“This is an important area [coastal West Africa], and we are working with State [Department] currently to address those places that you mentioned, and potentially develop the capability to have a presence there and partner in a more significant way with a couple of those countries, and that network is ongoing now,” Austin said during a Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing.
Last month the United States decided to remove its forces from Niger. The decision stemmed from an agreement reached between US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Niger’s leadership.
As of last year, there were slightly more than 1,000 US forces stationed in Niger, operating from two facilities, including Air Base 201 in Agadez in central Niger, which acted as a drone base. This base was built at a cost of about $100 million.
Currently, this base is now filled with Russian soldiers who recently touched down in Niger as a result of the growing ties between both countries, following the Niger coup which saw the installation of an anti-west and pro-Russian Junta.
Before that the base has been important in the fight against the State militants and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, an al Qaeda affiliate, in the Sahel region.
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