US military to draw up plans for withdrawal of troops from Niger
DAKAR, Senegal — The United States will begin plans to withdraw troops from Niger, U.S. officials said Saturday, in what experts say is a blow to Washington and its allies in the region in terms of staging security operations in the Sahel. The planned departure comes as U.S. officials said they were trying to reach a new military agreement.
The prime minister of Niger, Ali Lamine Zeine, who was appointed by the ruling military junta, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell agreed Friday that the two nations would begin to plan the withdrawal of American troops, the U.S. State Department told The Associated Press in an email Saturday.
A U.S. official said there was no timeline for withdrawal besides talks set to start in the coming days about next steps. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to detail the private diplomatic discussions. An American delegation to coordinate the details of the withdrawal process will be dispatched soon.
Niger plays a central role in the U.S. military’s operations in Africa’s Sahel region, an area on the edge of the Sahara. Washington is concerned about the spread of jihadi violence, where local groups have pledged allegiance to al-Qaida and the Islamic State groups. Niger is home to a major U.S. air base in the city of Agadez, about 550 miles from the capital, Niamey, using it for manned and unmanned surveillance flights and other operations. The U.S. has also invested hundreds of millions of dollars in training Niger’s military since it began operations there in 2013.
But relations have frayed between Niger and Western countries since mutinous soldiers ousted the country’s democratically elected president in July. Niger’s junta has since told French forces to leave and turned instead to Russia for security. Earlier this month, Russian military trainers arrived to reinforce the country’s air defenses and deliver Russian equipment.
Meanwhile, a U.S. State Department spokesman last week denied reports that Niger’s eastern neighbor Chad had called on the U.S. to withdraw its troops from an army base there. “The U.S. and Chad have agreed that the period following the upcoming Chadian presidential election is an appropriate time to review our security cooperation,” the spokesperson said.
A separate senior U.S. State Department official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to speak about sensitive diplomatic talks, told the AP on Saturday that Niger’s junta decided they don’t want any foreign forces in the country, and that the U.S. security partnership was ending for the time being. The junta told the U.S. that Russia’s presence was to train Nigeriens on how to operate equipment. The official said that the U.S. had valid concerns about some of the choices the junta was making, specifically about the potential for Russian and American troops to be collocated.
NYC self-immolation: The man who set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial died at an area hospital, the New York City Police Department said early Saturday.
The man was in Collect Pond Park around 1:30 p.m. Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed
them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said.
The man, who police said recently traveled from Florida to New York, had not breached any security checkpoints to access the park, a gathering spot for protesters, journalists and gawkers during the trial.
Tenn. union vote: Employees at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly voted to join the United Auto Workers union Friday in a historic first test of the UAW’s renewed effort to organize nonunion factories.
The union got 2,628 votes, or 73% of the ballots cast, compared with only 985 who voted no in an election run by the National Labor Relations Board.
Both sides have five business days to file objections to the election, the NLRB said. If there are none, the election will be certified and VW and the union must “begin bargaining in good faith.”
Japanese helicopters lost: Two Japanese navy helicopters carrying eight crew members were believed to have crashed in the Pacific Ocean during a nighttime training exercise, and rescuers were searching for the missing, Japan’s defense minister said.
The two SH-60K choppers belonging to Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force and carrying four crew each, lost contact late Saturday near Torishima island in the Pacific about 370 miles south of Tokyo, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters.
One of the eight crew members was recovered, but his or her condition was unknown. Officials were still searching for the other seven.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, Kihara said, adding that officials are prioritizing the rescue operation.
The helicopters, both a twin-engine, multi-mission model designed by Sikorsky and dubbed the Seahawk,
were performing an antisubmarine training mission, Kihara said.
One lost contact at 10:38 p.m. local time after sending an emergency signal. The other aircraft lost contact about 25 minutes later. One was stationed at an air base in Nagasaki and the other at a base in Tokushima prefecture.
Saturday’s training only involved the Japanese navy and was not part of a multinational exercise, defense officials said. They said no foreign aircraft or warships were spotted in the area.
Myanmar insurgency: About 1,300 people have fled from eastern Myanmar into Thailand, officials said Saturday, as fresh fighting erupted at a border town that was recently captured by ethnic guerrillas.
Fighters from the Karen ethnic minority earlier this month captured the last of the Myanmar army’s outposts in and around the town of Myawaddy, which is connected to Thailand by
two bridges across the Moei River.
The latest clashes were triggered in the morning when the Karen guerrillas launched an attack against government troops hiding near the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, a major crossing point for trade with Thailand, said Police Chief Pittayakorn Phetcharat in Thailand’s Mae Sot district.
Thai officials reported people had started crossing since Friday following clashes in several areas of Myawaddy.
The fall of Myawaddy is a major setback for Myanmar’s military, which seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. The armed forces have suffered a series of unprecedented defeats since last October, losing swaths of territory including border posts both to ethnic fighters that have been fighting for greater autonomy for decades, and pro-democracy guerrilla units that took up arms after the military takeover.