A top Pentagon official told Congress on Thursday that the U.S. has not received a formal request from Niger’s junta to depart the country, saying it has received mixed signals on whether the hundreds of U.S. troops there are no longer welcome.
Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told the House Armed Services Committee that so far Niger’s ruling military council, known as the CNSP, has not formally asked the U.S. military to leave.
Wallander said the CNSP has said the status of forces agreement, which sets the terms of a U.S. military presence in a country, is now null and void. However, she said the junta has “assured us that American military forces are protected and they will take no action that will endanger them.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Wallander said the CNSP has said the status of forces agreement, which sets the terms of a U.S. military presence in a country, is now null and void.
But last July mutinous soldiers ousted the country’s democratically elected president and months later asked French forces to leave.
In Niger, U.S. personnel have largely consolidated to one base and continue to run drone operations, but those are limited to force protection, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said.
The quick turn of relations had some U.S. lawmakers questioning how Niger could go from a strategic ally to being run by a junta in such a short time.
U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, the head of U.S. Africa Command, said that disinformation has played a huge role in Niger and in a number of governments that have fallen across the Sahel in recent years.
There are more than 600 million people across the continent on social media now, compared to just a very small minority who had access just a decade ago, Langley said.
The original article contains 388 words, the summary contains 173 words. Saved 55%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
