As the year of Our Lord 2023 pertains to an end, so does the French military existence in the West African country of Niger.
This marks another phasing out of centuries of French manifest destiny in the Sahel area of the African continent.
For the 3rd time in simply a year and a half, French soldiers are sent out packaging, bidding so long to Africa.
Reuters reported:
” The last French soldiers released in Niger to assist combat a decade-old Islamist revolt in the Sahel left the nation on Friday, sealing a withdrawal that has actually dealt an additional blow to France’s impact in West Africa.
Army officers who took power in Niger in July made France’s military exit among their essential needs, echoing juntas in surrounding Burkina Faso and Mali who severed enduring security ties with France after coups in 2020-2022
After at first pressing back, France’s President Emmanuel Macron stated in September that 1,500 soldiers would take out of Niger by the end of the year.”
The complete French withdrawal from Mali was finished in August 2022, and in Burkina Faso this February.
Before the coup, Niger was a crucial security partner of France and the United States.
” A file marking the main end of France’s military engagement with Niger was signed by both celebrations in the capital Niamey on Friday, according to a Reuters press reporter.
A last group of French soldiers in tiredness and knapsacks then boarded a military airplane that removed soon after.”
AFP reported:
” The French exit leaves simply numerous United States military workers and a variety of Italian and German soldiers staying in the nation.
[…] All 3 countries are fighting a jihadist revolt that emerged in northern Mali in 2012 and spread, however their relations have actually nosedived with France considering that a string of coups in the area.”
France still has 1,000 soldiers in surrounding Chad, the base for its Sahel anti-jihadist operations.
” But an Italian diplomat has actually stated France’s departure provides its European partners with a problem.
‘ We have an obligation not to leave due to the fact that deep space would instantly be filled by the Russians’, the diplomat stated.”
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The post ‘ Au Revoir’: The Last French Troops Leave Niger, Signaling completion of Paris’ Influence in Africa’s Sahel Region appeared initially on The Gateway Pundit
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