Nigeriens demonstrate to protest against the U.S. military presence in Niamey.

Russian military personnel have entered an air base in Niger that is hosting U.S. troops, a senior U.S. defense official told Reuters, a move that follows a decision by Niger's junta to expel U.S. forces from the country.

The military officers ruling the West African nation have told the U.S. to withdraw its nearly 1,000 military personnel from the country, which until a coup last year had been a key partner for Washington's fight against insurgents who have killed thousands of people and displaced millions more.

A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russian forces were not mingling with U.S. troops but were using a separate hanger at Airbase 101, which is next to Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, Niger's capital.

The move by Russia's military puts U.S. and Russian troops in close proximity at a time when the nations' military and diplomatic rivalry is increasingly acrimonious over the conflict in Ukraine.

It also raises questions about the fate of U.S. installations in the country following a withdrawal.

"(The situation) is not great but in the short-term manageable," the official said.

The Nigerien and Russian embassies in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The U.S. and its allies have been forced to move troops out of a number of African countries following coups that brought to power groups eager to distance themselves from Western governments. In addition to the impending departure from Niger, U.S. troops have also left Chad in recent days, while French forces have been kicked out of Mali and Burkina Faso.

At the same time, Russia is seeking to strengthen relations with African nations, pitching Moscow as a friendly country with no colonial baggage in the continent.

Mali, for example, has in recent years become one of Russia's closest African allies, with the Wagner Group mercenary force deploying there to fight jihadist insurgents.

Russia has described relations with the United States as "below zero" because of U.S. military and financial aid for Ukraine in the war now approaching the end of its second year.

The U.S. official said Nigerien authorities had told President Joe Biden's administration that about 60 Russian military personnel would be in Niger, but the official could not verify that number.

After the coup, the U.S. military moved some of its forces in Niger from Airbase 101 to Airbase 201 in the city of Agadez. It was not immediately clear what U.S. military equipment remained at Airbase 101.

The United States built Airbase 201 in central Niger at a cost of more than $100 million. Since 2018 it has been used to target Islamic State and al Qaeda affiliate Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) fighters with armed drones.

Washington is concerned about Islamic militants in the Sahel region, who may be able to expand without the presence of U.S. forces and intelligence capabilities.

Niger's move to ask for the removal of U.S. troops came after a meeting in Niamey in mid-March, when senior U.S. officials raised concerns including the expected arrival of Russia forces and reports of Iran seeking raw materials in the country, including uranium.

While the U.S. message to Nigerien officials was not an ultimatum, the official said, it was made clear U.S. forces could not be on a base with Russian forces.

"They did not take that well," the official said.

A two-star U.S. general has been sent to Niger to try and arrange a professional and responsible withdrawal.

While no decisions have been taken on the future of U.S. troops in Niger, the official said the plan was for them to return to U.S. Africa Command's home bases, located in Germany.

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Russian forces are operating at same base as US troops in Niger

Russian and US troops have been operating out of the same military base in Niger for at least several weeks, a US defense official and another source familiar with the matter told CNN, putting the two militaries in close proximity to each other at a time of heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine and as the country’s ruling junta has made clear it wants US forces to leave.

The Russians have been using a separate hangar on the base, known as Air Base 101, the sources said, and are not operating in the same space as the Americans. But “it is not that big of an area,” one of the sources said.

The Russian presence at the basehas been a major point of contention between the US and Niger’s military junta, which seized power in a July 2023 coup. And it further underscores US officials’ concerns that Niger, which has served as a crucial foothold for US counterterrorism operations in the region for nearly a decade, is turning toward Russia.

In March, US diplomatic and military officials including Gen. Michael Langley, commander of US Africa Command, and Celeste Wallander, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, visited Niger and expressed concern about the escalating Russian military presence in the country. They also raised questions about the future of Air Base 101 and whether it would be ceded to the Russians, CNN previously reported.

The meeting was tense, officials said at the time, and just a few days later Niger announced that it was ending the accord that has allowed US military personnel and civilian staff to operate in the country since 2014.

The US military is now working with Nigerien officials to carry out an orderly withdrawal of troops from the country, the Pentagon has confirmed. The US will be sending another delegation to Niger “hopefully … this week” to further discuss the withdrawal of US troops there, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said at a briefing on Wednesday. The US is still trying to get clearance from the Nigerien government for military flights in and out of the country.

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Reuters first reported that the Russians troops had entered Air Base 101.

The intensifying military cooperation between Russia and Niger has been central to the dispute between the US and the Nigerien junta, CNN has reported. Russia and Niger agreed to strengthen their military ties in January, Russia’s Defense Ministry said at the time. Russian media reported on April 11 that Russia was sending equipment and 100 military trainers to Niger, though one of the sources said Russian troops were in the country well before April.

Meanwhile, the US military has already withdrawn troops from a French military base in Chad after the country demanded they leave last month, a Pentagon spokesperson and other sources familiar with the matter told CNN on Wednesday. More than half of the US troops stationed at the French military base in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, have now left the country and relocated to Germany.

US losing ground to Russia in geopolitical battle over Africa

The expected withdrawal of U.S. forces from Niger will endanger U.S. counter-terrorism operations and hand Russia more influence in Africa as American and western ties on the continent fracture.

Around 1,000 troops in Niger are expected to eventually withdraw from the country after the conclusion of ongoing high-level talks between Niamey and Washington following a military coup in the African country last year, the Pentagon has said.

A forced withdrawal from Niger is a major setback for U.S. military as it fights against Islamic extremist groups across the Sahel, a volatile region that stretches from Senegal in western Africa to the Red Sea.

At risk for the U.S. is not just keeping ISIS, Boko Haram and other insurgent groups in check, but also the growing influence of Russia, Iran and China, all of which are jockeying for power in Africa along with the West.

But Western powers like the U.S. and European Union seem to be losing the battle in the Sahel.

“There’s been this hollowing out of all of the international security cooperation,” said  Joseph Siegle, director of research of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the Pentagon-funded National Defense University. “They were all part of a broader regional effort to try to support those countries.”

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Siegle attributes the shift to a series of governments being toppled by military juntas and an anti-western disinformation campaign supported by malicious actors in Russia or other hostile nations. But he said closer ties with Russia will harm those countries in the future, because Moscow is not investing economically into those nations.

“These countries are going to feel huge strains, and they’ll continue to try to put on a good face to [show] this is working, but it’s not something they’re going to be able to sustain,” he added. “Something’s going to have to give here.”

The immediate risk of a Niger withdrawal is that the Sahel could erupt into more violence as the U.S. and France, along with other western powers, face eroding influence with military juntas that have close ties with Russia and other rival powers.

Threats from al-Qaeda and ISIS-linked insurgent groups have already spiked in other countries ruled by military governments, including Mali, which booted French forces in 2022 but has since seen terrorist groups double their territorial control.

Jacques Du Preez, analyst at the South African research and intelligence firm In on Africa, warned that a hollower U.S. presence in the Sahel could create conditions for an Islamic extremist resurgence like the rise of ISIS in 2014.

“It’s the most active frontier in the global conflict against terrorism outside of the Middle East,” he said of the Sahel. “The place that al-Qaeda and ISIS both focused in on was the Sahel.”

“They understand that this is a very vital region [and] very strategic region that if they could get a foothold,” he explained, “it could allow them to have a very big impact, not just in Africa, but also in surrounding regions like Europe.”

Du Preez also stressed that other nations in the Sahel region are at risk if instability rises, including Nigeria.

A near-term risk is Chad, where the U.S. is repositioning some troops after a military coup about three years ago. Talks are ongoing, however, and are expected to pick up after elections beginning May 6.

Chad’s leader, Mahamat Idriss Déby, has closer ties with the U.S. than he does with Russia.

Déby will likely prevail in what is expected to be a sham electoral process and would have no reason to push the U.S. out of the country, experts say. Still, Chad faces other political factions inside of the country that are closer with Russia, posing a potential longer term threat.

“The Russians have thrown a lot in with many of [Déby’s] potential challengers,” said Du Preez. “There’s a clear move to isolate Chad and attempt to install their own regime.”

While experts see the rise of juntas — and sidelining of western powers — as creating instability that could empower terrorist groups, these same military leaders have cited the inability of governments to suppress extremist threats as justification for their takeovers.

The Niger government fell in a July military coup that paved the way for Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani to seize power, promising to more effectively counter terrorist threats.

Instead of turning to the West, Tchiani has fostered relations with Russia’s private military company Wagner Group, which has ties to Moscow and has long exploited the resources of African nations.

The Wagner Group was previously led by founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, who staged a short-lived mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin and was killed in a plane crash last August.

Putin has since moved to exert more influence over the mercenary group, which gives Moscow a low-profile foothold in Africa. Wagner Group appears to have rebranded into a successor in the newly formed Africa Corps, which sent military trainers to Niger in April.

Russia also has close relations and security agreements with Mali and Burkina Faso, both of which are controlled by military juntas, and Libya, a country torn between two major rival factions. The Central African Republic is also close to Russia and is reportedly discussing an agreement to host a Russian military base.

A scaled-back U.S. presence in the Sahel is likely to encourage more Russian influence in the region, particularly if terrorist threats grow.

Siegle, from the National Defense University, said the “main way that Russia has gained influence is at the expense of the West.”

“A lot of this is an information war that’s happening,” he said. “But its entry point are these military leaders who are authoritarians that are seeing Russia as their strongest international patron to keep their hold on power.”

It’s not just Russia: China also has its hands in Africa.

The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, a project of large-scale investments primarily for infrastructure in Asia and Africa, has financed loans to African nations that the West has accused of being predatory to give Beijing military, financial and political influence. China, however, only has one base in Africa, in Djibouti.

Iran is also another regional player, backing a proxy group called the Islamic Movement of Nigeria and the government in Sudan, which is waging a destructive civil war against a rebel group.

Last year, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi traveled to Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe to shore up ties with all three nations.

Some experts see a populist, anti-western movement that is organic in nature — even if fueled in part by China and Russia and exploited by military juntas — and centered on long-standing grievances with formerly western colonial powers, but also disenfranchisement with the current state of conditions.

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Abigail Kabandula, director of the Africa Center at the University of Denver, said the U.S. is losing its influence in Africa partly because Washington has failed to address terrorism, a threat she added has “mushroomed” in the past decade.

“The question that a number of [people] propose is why is the West or the French in the region if we still have the same problems and the problems have actually grown?” she said. “It’s a matter of rethinking the whole counterterrorism approach in the region. Whether we have the U.S. or not, it’s about how counterterrorism is being addressed.”

Kabandula also said the U.S. has relied largely on security arrangements with African nations in the Sahel and failed to focus more cooperation on economic or other needs, creating a “power vacuum around the continent.”

“The U.S. has not supported a number of countries in the things that they wanted to pursue,” she said. “A number of African countries have really asked for other things like development, development projects, development aid, or infrastructure development. Those have not come forth from the U.S. and so African countries [look] to China for help.”

Will Walldorf, a professor studying politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University, said he supports the U.S. withdrawal from Niger because it can allow Washington to recalibrate its approach to Africa and counterterrorism.

Walldorf said the U.S. focus on counterterrorism is “missing the heart of the problem” and that it was “staggering” how terrorism has surged under U.S. watch.

“The lack of good governance, the lack of meeting the everyday needs of citizens in West Africa, where we know food insecurity is extreme, has been really the core driver of terrorist recruitment in the region,” he said.

“If you can get to those sort of core issues,” he added, that would be “on a different playing field then what we’re offering now in terms of kind of a force-first approach.”

'We are still engaged with West African juntas' - US Africom head Gen Michael Langley

US troops have been helping West African nations fight an Islamist insurgency 

The US is still engaged with Niger and Chad, despite withdrawing troops from the countries, the head of the US Africa Command has told the BBC.

On Wednesday, dozens of US troops left Chad after the country's military leaders raised concerns over their presence ahead of the 6 May elections.

Gen Michael Langley told the BBC it was a "temporary repositioning" of troops.

Last month, US troops left neighbouring Niger after being ordered out by the country's junta.

Russian military instructors have arrived in Niger as part of a new agreement with the military leaders.

Several other military-led countries in the Sahel region have also recently strengthened ties with Russia and cut them with France, the former colonial power, as they try to fight an Islamist insurgency in the region.

The Sahel region is considered the new global epicentre of the Islamic State group.

Gen Langley said that violent extremist organisations were the biggest threat to Africa's stability.

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Last year, Niger and Burkina Faso both announced they were following Mali in withdrawing from the G5 international force set up to fight Islamists in the region. The three military-run countries have instead set up their own grouping - the Alliance of Sahel States.

The US set up a drone base in the central Niger city of Agadez, 750km (460 miles) north-east of the capital, Niamey, in 2016 to help monitor regional jihadist activity.

But in March after Niger ordered US troops to leave. Military spokesperson Col Amadou Abdramane accused the US of raising objections about the allies that Niger had chosen.

Col Abdramane condemned the US for its "condescending attitude" and "threat of reprisals".

But Gen Langley said that the "ultimate goal" of the US was to continue a dialogue with those countries that have been taken over by juntas.

He told the BBC the US hopes to get the juntas "on a roadmap back to democracy".

"That's the ultimate goal of the US government - of our continued engagement with these countries that have been taken over by juntas.

He said that he had spoken several Chadian leaders. "They are still inviting us in for continued relations because we've enjoyed a lot of success in helping Chad fight terrorism," he said.

"In Niger, our talks are still ongoing, whether we reset or reposition will just really be based on the threat, but also - every country we engage with is at the request of that country."

US says it will return to Chad for talks to keep troops in the country

The U.S. military plans to return to Chad within a month for talks about revising an agreement that allows it to keep troops based there, an American general said Wednesday.

The U.S. said last month it was withdrawing most of its contingent of about 100 troops from Chad after the government questioned the legality of their operations there. This followed Niger’s decision to order all U.S. troops out of the country, dealing a blow to U.S. military operations in the Sahel, a vast region south of the Sahara desert where groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate.

U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, made the comments to reporters in Ghana at the second annual African Maritime Forces Summit, or AMFS.

He said the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Chad was expected to be temporary, and Chad had communicated to Washington that it wanted to continue the security partnership after the presidential election there.

“We’ll come back for discussions within a month to see in what ways, and what they need, to be able to build further in their security construct and also against terrorism,” Langley said.

Government officials in Chad couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The presidential election in Chad is scheduled for Monday, and analysts expect the incumbent to win.

Chad’s interim president, Mahamat Deby Itno, seized power after his father, who ran the country for more than three decades, was killed fighting rebels in 2021. Last year, the government announced it was extending the 18-month transition for two more years, which led to protests across the country.

Langley said the withdrawal of U.S. forces was a temporary step “as part of an ongoing review of our security cooperation, which will resume after Chad’s May 6 presidential election.”

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Both Chad and Niger have been integral to the U.S. military’s efforts to counter violent extremist organizations across the Sahel region, but Niger’s ruling junta ended an agreement last month that allows U.S. troops to operate in the West African country.

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.