U.S.-Trained Niger Junta Kicks Out U.S. Troops, Drone Base

COL. MAJ. AMADOU Abdramane, a spokesperson for Niger’s ruling junta, took to the national television network on Saturday to denounce the United States and end the long-standing counterterrorism partnership between the two countries.

“The government of Niger, taking into account the aspirations and interests of its people, revokes, with immediate effect, the agreement concerning the status of United States military personnel and civilian Defense Department employees,” he said, declaring that the security pact, in effect since 2012, violated Niger’s constitution

The announcement came in the wake of spiking terrorist violence in the West African Sahel and on the heels of a visit to Niger by a high-level U.S. delegation that included top officials from the State and Defense Departments, as well as Gen. Michael Langley, the chief of U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM.