France will withdraw about 1,500 troops stationed in Niger Republic.
This was confirmed by French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday.
He said that France will withdraw its troops from Niger by the end of the year following a July coup in the West African country. The move deals a major blow to French influence and counter-insurgency operations in the Sahel region.
Macron said that France, the former colonial power in Niger, refused to “be held hostage by the putschists.” He added that France would coordinate the troop withdrawal with the coup leaders.
The French president’s decision comes after weeks of pressure from the junta and popular demonstrations. France’s exit will likely exacerbate Western concerns over Russia’s expanding influence in Africa. The Russian mercenary force Wagner is already present in Niger’s neighbour Mali.
French influence over its former colonies has waned in West Africa in recent years, just as widespread abuse has grown. Its forces have been kicked out of neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso since coups in those countries, reducing its role in a region-wide fight against deadly Islamist insurgencies.
Until the coup, Niger had remained a key security partner of France and the United States, which have used it as a base to fight an Islamist insurgency in West and Central Africa’s wider Sahel region.