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France will withdraw nearly 1,500 troops from the West African nation of Niger by the end of the year, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, a decision that could upend the West\u2019s security footprint in the region, including the future of 1,100 American forces based in Niger.<\/p>\n
In an interview on French television, Mr. Macron also said that the country\u2019s ambassador to Niger would leave \u201cwithin the next hours.\u201d He added, \u201cAnd we are ending our military cooperation with the de facto authorities in Niger, because they no longer want to fight terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The short announcement comes after weeks of escalating tensions between France and the new military leaders in Niger, who seized power in a coup<\/a> in July. It also caps years of waning influence for France<\/a>, a former colonizer in West Africa<\/a> whose economic presence and military clout in the region remains considerable despite being increasingly challenged by juntas and foreign powers like Russia.<\/p>\n The new authorities in Niger, known as the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, called the decision on Sunday a \u201chistorical moment\u201d for the nation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cImperialistic and neocolonialist forces are not welcome anymore on our territory,\u201d they said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mr. Macron had refused to heed calls by Niger\u2019s new leaders to recall troops and his ambassador, a position that most analysts and even French and European diplomats based in West Africa said had become untenable.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not here to take part in political affairs, to be hostages, in a way, of the putschists,\u201d Mr. Macron said in an interview with the TF1 and France 2 television channels. He added that France would coordinate with the authorities in Niger to ensure French troops depart in an \u201corderly manner\u201d over the coming months.<\/p>\n Niger\u2019s military leaders had not responded as of Sunday night.<\/p>\n For weeks, tens of thousands of protesters in Niger\u2019s capital, Niamey, have regularly demonstrated in front of the base hosting French military forces. At a recent protest attended by a New York Times reporter<\/a>, demonstrators trampled on a French flag, carried a coffin they said was meant for Mr. Macron and brandished signs reading, \u201cDeath to France.\u201d<\/p>\n After the coup that ousted the civilian president, Mohamed Bazoum<\/a>, Western countries suspended their aid and security partnerships with Niger, one of the world\u2019s poorest countries, whose leader was seen as one of the last reliable allies in a region now dominated by men in uniform<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n As Western countries have recalled troops training Nigerien soldiers in recent weeks, the future of Western involvement in the Sahel region \u2014 the world\u2019s epicenter of jihadist activity \u2014 remains uncertain.<\/p>\n Niger is a key transit country in the migration route to Europe, and in recent years the European Union has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into buffering its northern areas with transit centers and repatriation flights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n France\u2019s withdrawal could herald a shift for the United States\u2019 presence in West Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cThis signals the beginning of the end of an era for both France and the United States in the Sahel,\u201d said Aneliese Bernard, a former State Department adviser who has worked in Niger and is now director of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, a Washington-based risk advisory group. \u201cThe U.S. has failed to really deliver its own strategy. They always piggybacked off the French approach.\u201d<\/p>\n This month, the United States announced that it was moving its troops from the base in Niamey, where the French soldiers are also positioned, to an outpost in Agadez, in the north, where it operates drones monitoring insurgents\u2019 activities in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Over nearly a decade, France sent thousands of troops to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to counter jihadist insurgencies whose footprint has only since grown. The United States provided intelligence gathered from drone activities and trained African special forces.<\/p>\n But as the Sahel region became a major hot spot of jihadist activity, France faced the risk of getting stuck there. Its heavy presence on the ground became an impediment. Comparisons with the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan flourished<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then, in a domino effect, soldiers staged coups in those three countries over the past three years and cut ties with France. While France still has troops in Chad \u2014 a neighbor of Niger \u2014 as well as Senegal, Ivory Coast and Gabon in West and Central Africa, the future of its military presence in the region appears uncertain.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Mr. Macron defended France\u2019s track record in the region, arguing that it had intervened militarily<\/a> only at the request of countries like Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and that those countries would have fallen prey to terrorist groups without French troops.<\/p>\n \u201cThe putschists are the friends of disorder,\u201d Mr. Macron said, pointing to a recent uptick in violence<\/a> perpetrated by Islamist terrorist groups in countries where French troops were forced out, like Mali<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Macron\u2019s comments on Sunday were the third time in less than a month that he implied that those three West African governments owed their survival to France\u2019s involvement, and they have infuriated the countries\u2019 leaders and irked European partners.<\/p>\n The president said France would continue to help African countries fight against terrorism. \u201cBut we only do it if it is at the request of democratically elected authorities and regional authorities,\u201d Mr. Macron said.<\/p>\n He added, \u201cWe are not here to take part in coups or to interfere.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n