More than a month after a coup in Niger, has temporarily stopped several activities in the West African nation, a top US military commander claims that Washington has resumed flying drones and other aircraft out of Niger air bases.
General James Hecker, the Air Force’s commander for Europe and Africa, delivered the remarks on Wednesday at the Air and Space Forces Association’s annual conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
Hecker said, “For a while, we weren’t doing any missions on the bases, and the airfields were pretty much shut down.” “Through the diplomatic process, we are now carrying out a sizable portion of the missions we were carrying out before, though I wouldn’t say all of them.”
He continued by stating that both manned and unmanned missions are being flown by the US in Niger and that some of these intelligence and surveillance flights have resumed “within the last couple of weeks” as a result of Washington’s talks with the junta.
General Pat Ryder, the head spokesman for the Pentagon, confirmed in a statement that American aircraft were once again flying missions in Niger, but he added that these were limited to defending American forces.
As of November 2019, the Americans are in charge of running Air Base 201, which houses about 1,100 soldiers and is used for MQ-9 Reapers and manned aircraft.
The US forces stationed in the nation have been kept inside their military bases since the July coup, which was successful. The new authorities have also banned American drones from operating in Niger’s airspace.
The Pentagon reported last week that some military personnel and equipment had been relocated from an air base close to Niamey, the country’s capital, to another base in Agadez.
In order to conduct extensive drone patrols and other counterterrorism operations, the US has designated Niger as its primary regional outpost.
Although many analysts contend that the main goal is to control the African nation’s enormous energy resources and use them for the strategic surveillance of West Africa, the official justification for the presence of US forces is the alleged fight against extremist rebels.
Uranium is abundant in the landlocked nation of West Africa, but the people are still very poor.
