RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (Reuters) – The United States has received “mixed signals” from Niger following the ruling junta’s weekend announcement that it had revoked an accord allowing U.S. troops to operate in the West African country, the top U.S. general said on Tuesday.
Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not elaborate on those mixed signals but his comments appeared to suggest at least some support from within Niger’s ruling junta for a continued U.S. military presence.
“As you saw over the course of the weekend, there was some announcements from Niger about our relationship. But even since then, there have been some mixed signals that we received,” Brown told reporters during a news conference at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“So we will continue to make plans and prepare – if we stay or depart.”
At the State Department, deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Washington was still communicating with Niger’s ruling military council, known as the CNSP.
“We are remaining in touch with the CNSP and seeking additional clarification of their comments, as well as discussing potential next steps,” Patel said.
Prior to the July 2023 coup, Niger had been a key partner for Washington’s fight against Islamist insurgents in the region.
The military junta that seized power in Niamey has kicked out French and European forces and quit the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc. Like juntas in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, it has also strengthened military ties with Russia.
About 1,000 U.S. military personnel remain in Niger, although their counter-terrorism operations have been halted.
At a meeting last week in Niger, senior Biden administration officials expressed concerns about the country’s potential development of ties to Russia and Iran, the Pentagon said.
High-level Russian defense officials including Yunus-bek Yevkurov, Russia’s deputy defense minister, have visited the country and met with the junta leader.
The prime minister of Niger’s ruling junta, Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, visited Iran in January.
In its statement on Saturday, the ruling junta said it rejected what it called false allegations by the U.S. delegation that Niger “would have signed a secret agreement on uranium with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Patel did not enter into specifics of the disagreements between the U.S. and Niger on Tuesday, but said officials made “it quite clear that we believed that the CNSP was heading down a path that we just disagree with and took a lot of issues.”
(Reporting by Idrees Ali in Ramstein, Germany, Phil Stewart and Simon Lewis in Washington; writing by Phil Stewart; editing by Chris Reese)
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