As the year of Our Lord 2023 comes to an end, so does the French military presence in the West African nation of Niger.
This marks another phasing out of centuries of French colonialism in the Sahel region of the African continent.
For the third time in just a year and a half, French troops are sent packing, bidding adieu to Africa.
Reuters reported:
“The last French troops deployed in Niger to help fight a decade-old Islamist insurgency in the Sahel left the country on Friday, sealing a withdrawal that has dealt a further blow to France’s influence in West Africa.
Army officers who seized power in Niger in July made France’s military exit one of their key demands, echoing juntas in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali who severed long-standing security ties with France after coups in 2020-2022.
After initially pushing back, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said in September that 1,500 troops would pull out of Niger by the end of the year.”
The full French withdrawal from Mali was completed in August 2022, and in Burkina Faso this February.
Before the coup, Niger was a key security partner of France and the United States.
“A document marking the official end of France’s military engagement with Niger was signed by both parties in the capital Niamey on Friday, according to a Reuters reporter.
A last group of French soldiers in fatigues and backpacks then boarded a military plane that took off shortly after.”
AFP reported:
“The French exit leaves just hundreds of US military personnel and a number of Italian and German troops remaining in the country.
[…] All three nations are battling a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 and spread, but their relations have nosedived with France since a string of coups in the region.”
France still has 1,000 troops in neighboring Chad, the base for its Sahel anti-jihadist operations.
“But an Italian diplomat has said France’s departure presents its European partners with a dilemma.
‘We have a responsibility not to leave because the void would immediately be filled by the Russians’, the diplomat said.”
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The post ‘Au Revoir’: The Last French Troops Leave Niger, Signaling the End of Paris’ Influence in Africa’s Sahel Region appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
