The exit is the third time in 18 months that French troops have been despatched packing from a rustic within the Sahel.
The final French troops in Niger have withdrawn, marking an finish to greater than a decade of French operations to struggle armed teams in West Africa’s Sahel area.
“In the present day’s date … marks the tip of the disengagement technique of French forces within the Sahel,” Niger military Lieutenant Salim Ibrahim stated on Friday.
France stated it could pull out its roughly 1,500 troopers and pilots from its former colony after Niger’s navy authorities demanded they depart after a coup on July 26.
It was the third time in lower than 18 months that French troops have been despatched packing from a rustic within the Sahel. They have been compelled to depart fellow former colonies Mali final yr and Burkina Faso earlier this yr after current navy takeovers in these international locations too.
All three nations are battling insurgent violence that erupted in northern Mali in 2012, later spreading to Niger and Burkina Faso. However a string of coups within the area since 2020 – and consequent rise in anti-French sentiments among the many individuals – have seen relations nosedive with France and pivot in the direction of higher rapprochement with Russia.
The French exit from Niger leaves a whole bunch of United States navy personnel and plenty of Italian and German troopers remaining within the nation. Navy leaders in Niamey this month stated they might additionally finish two European Union safety and defence missions within the nation.
France’s withdrawal from Mali left a bitter aftertaste when the bases it as soon as occupied in Menaka, Gossi and Timbuktu have been quickly taken over by Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group.
In September, French President Emmanuel Macron introduced the withdrawal of all French troops from Niger by the tip of the yr. The primary contingent left in October.
Most French troopers in Niger have been at an air base in Niamey. Smaller teams have been deployed alongside Nigerien troopers on the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, the place armed teams linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda are believed to function.
The withdrawal was a fancy operation with convoys having to drive as much as 1,700km (1,000 miles) on typically perilous desert routes to the French centre for Sahel operations in neighbouring Chad.
The primary French convoy of troops withdrawing from Niger arrived in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, after 10 days on the highway.
From Chad, French troops can depart by air with their most delicate gear though many of the relaxation needs to be moved by land and sea.
A supply instructed the Agence France-Presse information company on the situation of anonymity that among the French containers carrying gear have been to be pushed from Chad to the port of Douala in Cameroon earlier than they sailed to France.
France’s former ally in Niger, overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum, stays below home arrest.
A US official stated in October that Washington was maintaining about 1,000 navy personnel in Niger however was not actively coaching or helping Niger forces.
The US stated this month that it was able to resume cooperation with Niger on the situation its navy authorities dedicated to a speedy transition to civilian rule.
Niger’s rulers need as much as three years for a transition again to a civilian authorities.