French soldiers have started withdrawing from their bases in Niger, with Niger’s military escorting the first convoy of troops out of the country.
The troops travelled in the “direction of Chad”, authorities in Niamey said.
Pick-up trucks and armoured personnel carriers laden with French soldiers drove through the dusty outskirts of Niamey, on Tuesday. This marked Niger’s military rulers’ demand for the French soldiers’ departure.
In a statement, Niger’s military called on citizens to cooperate with the troop movements, which it said would involve some of the 1,500 French soldiers leaving Niger by road to Chad.
“The troops based in Ouallam have left their base today. These are the operations for departure of the first ground convoy in the direction of Chad, escorted by our defence and security forces,” the military said.
In addition to departure by land, Niamey airport has registered “three special flights”, two for departure of 97 special forces elements and one dedicated to logistics.
Niger’s new ruling generals swiftly demanded the withdrawal of French forces, after they took power on July 26.
French President Emmanuel Macron then confirmed their departure at the end of September.
France stationed approximately 1,000 French troops in Niamey. Another 400 deployed at two forward bases in the northwest, near Mali and Burkina Faso.
The northwest is considered a hotbed of rebel activity.
Niger’s military rulers, which assured the withdrawal will take place in “complete safety”, said remaining French forces would “continue to leave on a timetable agreed to by both parties”.
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The U.S., on Tuesday, also formally declared that Niger’s democratically-elected president was removed in a military coup.
This resulted in Washington’s, officially suspending assistance to Niger. Though there are no plans to change the U.S. troop presence in the country, senior administration officials said.
Washington decided to limit the assistance it could provide to Niger. This is as it became clear the military government did not want to restore democratic rule, a senior official said.
“We’re taking this action because, over the last two months, we’ve exhausted all available avenues to preserve constitutional order in Niger,” a senior U.S. official told reporters.
U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said Washington has now officially suspended $200m in foreign assistance.
It hitherto temporarily paused the assistance to Niger in August.
“Any resumption of U.S. assistance will require action… to usher in democratic governance in a quick and credible timeframe,” Miller said in a statement.
Despite the aid suspension, the U.S. has no plans to change its troop presence in Niger, another official said.
Over the past decade, U.S. troops have trained Nigerien forces in counterterrorism and operated two military bases. The bases included one that conducts drone missions against rebel fighters affiliated with ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.
There are now about 1,000 U.S. defence department personnel in Niger, according to the officials. (Al-Jazeera/News Agencies)
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