The plan includes looking for nations allied to the United States in the Sahara and Sahel regions, where extremist groups allied to the Al Qaeda network and the Islamic State group operate, “with whom we can partner and where we can move our facilities,” the president said. General James Hecker to reporters in Washington.
Hecker stressed that President Joe Biden’s administration has yet to make decisions about whether the military overthrow of the democratically elected president will force the withdrawal of diplomatic or security forces personnel from the country.
The US facilities have served as vital counterterrorism bases in an unstable region where military coups are on the rise, as well as the presence of the Russian mercenary group Wagner. The US presence includes air bases in Niamey, the capital, and in Agadez, in the southern tip of the Sahara desert.
If US forces leave Niger, either because Washington decides it cannot cooperate with the mutinous soldiers now ruling the country or because the junta orders it to, “it will certainly affect” US intelligence and counterterrorism efforts, Hecker said. .
“But of course, we hope there is a peaceful diplomatic solution and we don’t have” to leave, he complied.
