Reuters cited an unnamed US official to report on Thursday that Russian troops are based in the same Nigerien military facility as American ones, which Secretary of Defense Austin later confirmed. Other outlets reported the same citing their own sources, and it’s unclear whether the same individual spoke to them too. In any case, what’s most interesting about their report is the remainder of what they said was revealed to them about the larger context within which this latest development is taking place.
According to them, “Niger’s move to ask for the removal of U.S. troops came after a meeting in Niamey in mid-March, when senior U.S. officials raised concerns including the expected arrival of Russia forces and reports of Iran seeking raw materials in the country, including uranium. While the U.S. message to Nigerien officials was not an ultimatum, the official said, it was made clear U.S. forces could not be on a base with Russian forces. ‘They did not take that well,’ the official said.”
In other words, the American military delegation arrogantly told their hosts that they don’t want Russian troops in close proximity to theirs, which prompted them to subsequently request their withdrawal. Niger wanted to cut the costs and time required for receiving Russian advisors, hence why it sought to base them in a separate hanger at the same facility as US troops outside the capital instead of building a new base. This pragmatic move was within Niger’s sovereign rights as a UN-recognized state.
America felt differently, however, even though it had already lost its negotiating leverage with that country following last summer’s patriotic military coup. Moreover, the US had begun moving some of its troops from its base outside the capital to the $100 million one that it earlier constructed deep in the Sahara desert, and it could have in theory simply relocated there in full. Instead, its representatives demanded that the Russians not be hosted anywhere near thus, which was a mistake.
No self-respecting state, let alone one whose new government came to power through a patriotic military coup with the express purpose of rebalancing previously lopsided relations with the West, would comply with that audacious demand. Niger wanted to retain its American military presence, most likely to avoid being targeted by a joint Franco-US Hybrid War campaign if it kicked both of their troops out of the country, but was forced to request their withdrawal in order to “save face” after that happened.
All the media hype about the reasons why this happened (ex: “Russian influence”) and the expected consequences (ex: “an upsurge in terrorism”) distract from the fact that this was entirely avoidable and only occurred because the US inexplicitly disrespected Niger despite having lost its leverage. Had its representatives behaved respectfully, then their country’s troops would probably have never been asked to leave, but they grossly overstepped their boundaries and made this outcome inevitable.
Reuters didn’t realize the enormity of what its unnamed source told them otherwise the editorial decision might have been made to scrub that part from their report. It’s embarrassing that the US hadn’t learned anything about the Global South over the past two years since that collection of countries became a priority focus for the West. Prior expectations of newfound pragmatism were discredited in an instant by this candid admission and perceptions of its policymakers consequently worsened.
