Can the US find new partners in West Africa after Niger exit?

Washington is now seeking a Plan B after troops were ejected from sprawling, expensive bases in Niger.

Following 11 years of defence cooperation and millions of dollars spent on maintaining military bases, the United States officially pulled its troops out of Niger this week in a surprise divorce that experts are calling a “blow” to Washington’s ambitions for influence in the troubled Sahel region of West Africa.

Once-close relations between the two countries saw the US establish large, expensive military bases from which it launched surveillance drones in Niger to monitor myriad armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).

However, those ties collapsed in March when Niger’s military government, which seized power in July 2023, cancelled a decade-long security agreement and told the US, which was pushing for a transition to civilian rule, to remove its 1,100 military personnel stationed there by September 15.

For months, the US has failed to either fully align with or outright oppose the ruling military, analysts say.

On the one hand, Washington seemed ready to maintain defence relations with the new ruling power, but on the other, it felt compelled to denounce the coup and pause aid to Niger.