CNN
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Russian and US troops have been working out of the identical navy base in Niger for at the least a number of weeks, a US protection official and one other supply conversant in the matter informed CNN, placing the 2 militaries in shut proximity to one another at a time of heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine and because the nation’s ruling junta has made clear it needs US forces to go away.
The Russians have been utilizing a separate hangar on the bottom, referred to as Air Base 101, the sources mentioned, and are usually not working in the identical area because the Individuals. However “it’s not that large of an space,” one of many sources mentioned.
The Russian presence on the basehas been a serious level of rivalry between the US and Niger’s navy junta, which seized energy in a July 2023 coup. And it additional underscores US officers’ considerations that Niger, which has served as a vital foothold for US counterterrorism operations within the area for almost a decade, is popping towards Russia.
In March, US diplomatic and navy officers together with Gen. Michael Langley, commander of US Africa Command, and Celeste Wallander, the assistant secretary of protection for worldwide safety affairs, visited Niger and expressed concern in regards to the escalating Russian navy presence within the nation. Additionally they raised questions on the way forward for Air Base 101 and whether or not it will be ceded to the Russians, CNN beforehand reported.
The assembly was tense, officers mentioned on the time, and only a few days later Niger announced that it was ending the accord that has allowed US navy personnel and civilian workers to function within the nation since 2014.
The US navy is now working with Nigerien officers to hold out an orderly withdrawal of troops from the nation, the Pentagon has confirmed. The US shall be sending one other delegation to Niger “hopefully … this week” to additional focus on the withdrawal of US troops there, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh mentioned at a briefing on Wednesday. The US remains to be making an attempt to get clearance from the Nigerien authorities for navy flights in and in a foreign country.
Reuters first reported that the Russians troops had entered Air Base 101.
The intensifying navy cooperation between Russia and Niger has been central to the dispute between the US and the Nigerien junta, CNN has reported. Russia and Niger agreed to strengthen their navy ties in January, Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned on the time. Russian media reported on April 11 that Russia was sending tools and 100 navy trainers to Niger, although one of many sources mentioned Russian troops have been within the nation effectively earlier than April.
In the meantime, the US navy has already withdrawn troops from a French navy base in Chad after the nation demanded they go away final month, a Pentagon spokesperson and different sources conversant in the matter informed CNN on Wednesday. Greater than half of the US troops stationed on the French navy base in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, have now left the nation and relocated to Germany.