Troop Withdrawal From Niger May Lead U.S. to Realign Forces In The Region

ADF STAFF

The United States and Niger are continuing negotiations for the withdrawal of approximately 1,000 U.S. troops located at two air bases in the Sahelian nation.

After announcing at the end of April the intention to withdraw all military personnel, U.S. negotiators continue to work with Niger’s National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland (CNSP) to define future bilateral security cooperation plans and activities.

On April 25, U.S. Ambassador to Niger Kathleen FitzGibbon and Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman, Director of Strategy, Engagement and Programs for U.S. Africa Command, met with CNSP officials in Niamey to discuss “an orderly and responsible withdrawal” of U.S. forces from Niger.

This was followed by meetings the following week between Nigerien officials and Assistant Secretary of Defense Christopher Maier and Lt. Gen. Dag Anderson, the Director for Joint Force Development, of the U.S. Joint Staff.

Extremist violence in the Sahel continues to take a deadly toll as groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group (IS) expand their territory.

Niger experienced the most significant surge in terrorism in 2023, with twice as many terrorism-related fatalities as it had in 2022, according to the 2024 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), published by the Institute for Economics and Peace.

In 2023, the number of terrorist attacks in Niger increased to 61, up from 54 in 2022. But terrorism-related deaths more than doubled — 468 in 2023 compared to 193 in 2022 — in what the index called “a significant escalation in the lethality of attacks.”

Nigerien military personnel have suffered the majority of terrorism-related casualties (73%), which ranked as the third-highest military death toll in the world in 2023, according to the GTI.

The sudden request for U.S. troop withdrawal by the CNSP may lead the U.S. to readjust its security forces’ posture in the region to support African nations on the frontlines of the counter-terror fight. U.S. defense strategists have said they want to take a fresh look at their security cooperation agreements in the region as part of an ongoing review, which they expect will yield better results for West African states with comprehensive counter-terrorism strategies. Several nations are now putting in place strategies that address the root causes that lead to the spread of violent extremist organizations.

Côte d’Ivoire, for example, has invested $137.2 million to fight terrorism, including programs to equip and train special counter-terrorism units and investments in education, health care, infrastructure and job-training programs. The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has implemented a military strategy to effectively deal with violent extremist organizations (VEOs) through the adoption of non-kinetic approaches to build societal resilience and national cohesion. Ghana is a founding member of the Accra Initiative to strengthen multilateral cooperation and intelligence sharing among West African nations.

Experts have long advocated the combination of U.S. security assistance with African countries’ investments in root-cause mitigation programs to prevent and defeat terrorism in the region.

In January 2024, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $45 million in new assistance to coastal West African nations to support the fight against extremism and insecurity. The U.S. has also launched the Global Fragility Act, a 10-year, whole-of-government effort to support conflict prevention, resilience and sustainable development in 10 countries globally that are facing terrorism and other threats. Of the countries selected for partnerships, seven are in Africa: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mozambique, Libya and Togo.