US says it has not received a formal request by Niger junta to leave military bases

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.”

The U.S. military has about 650 troops and another several hundred support personnel still in Niger, which in the past has been a critical hub for counterterrorism operations. But last July mutinous soldiers ousted the country’s democratically elected president and months later asked French forces to leave.

Wallander said the U.S. is continuing to look at ways to conduct operations against violent extremist organizations in the region.

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