The junta that severed ties with Paris following the July coup in Niger demanded that all French military aircraft and personnel withdraw from the country by December 22, according to an email from the French Army General Staff to The Associated Press. This week, France made the preliminary declaration that its diplomatic mission in Niger would be suspended indefinitely.
Despite this, the nation would maintain its involvement in the Sahel – the extensive region south of the Sahara Desert that has been a breeding ground for violent extremism – President Emmanuel Macron stated Thursday while visiting a Jordanian base.
“I decided on some important reconfigurations,” Macron said. “We will continue to protect our interests over there but our armies won´t be as present permanently, will be less stationary and also less exposed,” he said.
The termination of military collaboration with France was hailed by the Niger junta as the commencement of “a new era” for the Nigeriens.
“Niger stands tall, and the security of our homeland will no longer depend on a foreign presence,” the Junta proclaimed on X, formerly Twitter. “We are determined to meet the challenges before us, by consolidating our national military and strategic capabilities.”
However, western analysts naturally assert that the withdrawal of the forces will result in a void, as is the case whenever western hegemony is booted from a region. As Niger was the final Western ally in the ten-year war against jihadi groups in the region, it will “leave Niger and the entire Sahel worse off” in terms of overall counterterrorism efforts, according to Ryan Cummings, director of Africa-focused security consulting firm Signal Risk.
A base for counterterrorism operations in the region was envisioned in Niger, where approximately 1,500 French forces were providing training and support to the local military. This decision was made in response to the rise of anti-French sentiment in Burkina Faso and Mali, both of which are ruled by juntas that have also expelled French troops.
It would seem that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger see the French, and by extension the West, as more of an existential threat than the jihadis in the region, though you will likely not hear such analysis in establishment media.
Upon deposing Mohamed Bazoum, largely seen as an installed puppet president beholden to Western interests, the nation’s junta severed military ties with France and other European nations. Conversely, they pursued defense collaboration with Russia.
All of these coups taking place throughout the third world inevitably play into the larger silent war between BRICS and the West.
Together with the military administrations of Mali and Burkina Faso, the Niger junta has established a security alliance in order to coordinate counterterrorism efforts throughout the Sahel.
Ryan DeLarme is an American journalist navigating a labyrinth of political corruption, overreaching corporate influence, a burgeoning censorship-industrial complex, compromised media, and the planned destruction of our constitutional republic. He writes for Badlands Media and is also a Host and Founder at Vigilant News. Additionally, his writing has been featured in American Thinker, the Post-Liberal, Winter Watch, Underground Newswire, and Stillness in the Storm. He’s also writes for alt-media streaming platforms Dauntless Dialogue and Rise.tv. Ryan enjoys gardening, kung fu, creative writing and fighting to SAVE AMERICA
