What’s next as ‘heavy-handed’ US negotiates pullout from Niger?

US ‘touched a nerve’ in security dealings with Niger, opening door to ‘transactional’ Russia as Sahel violence spirals.

The United States is preparing to withdraw more than 1,000 military personnel from Niger, once a front-line partner in its war against the ISIL (ISIS) group and al-Qaeda affiliates in the Sahel region of Africa, which is currently experiencing a surge in deadly violence.

Niger announced in March that it was breaking off its defence agreement with the US “with immediate effect”. The US Department of State confirmed that officials were meeting their Nigerien counterparts on Thursday to discuss “an orderly and responsible withdrawal of US forces”.

The split comes as no surprise. The military government, installed during a coup last year, and the US were always going to be awkward bedfellows, say experts. Furthermore, the junta set the tone for relations with the West at the end of last year, when it showed 1,500 French troops the door.

Now, Russia has entered the scene. State-funded Wagner mercenaries were already deeply embedded across Africa before their late leader Yevgeny Prigozhin marched on Moscow last year. Now, in a clear bid to erase that chapter of history, the group has been rebranded as the “Africa Corps” and a team of its military instructors recently visited Niger’s capital, Niamey, with equipment to build an air defence base.

Niger is one of the world’s poorest countries and its army is mired in conflict with armed groups despite more than a decade of US presence. For the junta, the arrival of Russia heralds the start of a new era of potentially more fruitful – and possibly more egalitarian – relations with foreign nations.