The international community, and above all Western countries, had unanimously condemned the July 26 military overthrow of elected president Mohamed Bazoum.
The United States, the European Union and France suspended military cooperation and financial assistance, while the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc imposed heavy sanctions to encourage a return to civilian rule.
Four months later, Bazoum is still holed up in the presidential palace and the new military leaders have yet to announce a timetable for elections.
But ECOWAS has hinted at easing sanctions if the junta agrees to a "short transition."
On Thursday, Benin President Patrice Talon said he wanted to "quickly" restore relations between the two countries.
The United Nations General Assembly meanwhile on Monday accepted the accreditations of a new ambassador sent by Niamey.
- Europeans divided -
As Niger military leaders ordered French forces to depart, other Western countries have indicated they wish to keep a toehold in the country, above all to counter Russian influence in the region.
The United States, which has an air base in the north, was the first to soften its position, saying Wednesday it is ready to resume military cooperation on the condition the junta commits to a short transition.
European countries have started to break ranks with France, which closed its embassy and has refused to recognise the legitimacy of the military leaders.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said during a visit to Niamey that Berlin is "interested in a resumption of projects" with Niger's military.
"France is disengaging from the Sahel, but afterwards we have to agree on some common European approach in this region, and not each man for himself," said a European diplomat.
According to another Western diplomat, the European Union is in an "untenable position", with member states showing little hurry to agree on a common policy.
"Out of seven member states who were present in Niger, six, with France being the exemption, want to return at all costs but are waddling in line," while Nigerien military leaders "have played a clever game," the diplomat said.
Niger put pressure on European countries by ending two EU security and defence missions in the country and repealing a law that criminalised trafficking migrants to Europe.
"One should not see these openings as a capitulation to the military authorities," said Fahiraman Rodrigue Kone, Sahel specialist at the Institute for Security Studies.
"But in a context of shifting strategic alliances in the Sahel, a certain pragmatism is replacing dogmatic stances," Kone said.
"Given their tensions with France, which has an important weight in European diplomacy, the strategy of the Nigerien authorities is to develop bilateral cooperation with certain European actors," he said.
- Moscow's spectre -
European countries "face a dilemma," said an Italian diplomat. "We have a responsability to stay, because the void would be immediately filled by the Russians."
A Russian delegation arrived in Niamey early December to reinforce military cooperation. Moscow is already the preferred ally of military regimes in Mali and Burkina Faso -- two countries which formed an alliance with Niger in September and contemplate joining into a confederation.
Outside of military affairs, the "Russians cannot help solve all the challenges," said ISS's Kone.
An eventual resumption of European development assistance would be a big relief to the Niger regime, which has been forced to slash government spending by 40 percent.
But Niger can count on dividends from an oil pipeline built by China, which is due to be inaugurated in January and will allow the country to export crude oil for the first time, with some 90,000 barrels a day flowing towards Benin.
Last French troops bow out of Niger
Niamey, Niger (AFP) Dec 22, 2023 -
The last French troops withdrew from Niger on Friday, in the latest blow to more than a decade of French anti-jihadist operations in west Africa's Sahel region.
The French exit leaves just hundreds of US military personnel and a number of Italian and German troops remaining in the country.
France announced it would pull out its roughly 1,500 soldiers and pilots from Niger after the former French colony's new ruling generals demanded they depart following a coup on July 26.
It was the third time in less than 18 months that French troops were sent packing from a Sahel nation, after fellow former colonies Mali and Burkina Faso following military takeovers.
All three nations are battling a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 and spread, but their relations have nosedived with France since a string of coups in the region.
The last French soldiers took off from an airbase in the capital Niamey aboard two aircraft, according to an AFP journalist. Their destination was unclear.
"Today's date... marks the end of the disengagement process of French forces in the Sahel," said Niger army lieutenant Salim Ibrahim.
Some 1,000 French troops remain in neighbouring Chad, where France has based its Sahel anti-jihadist operations, but now no longer have a presence in the three main countries battling the extremists.
Ibrahim said the pullout from Niger, which started in October, included 145 flights and 15 ground convoys in total.
The French military told AFP that no equipment was abandoned, but buildings had been left in place.
- Perilous desert routes -
French President Emmanuel Macron announced in September the withdrawal of all French troops from Niger by the end of the year.
Most French troops in Niger had been stationed at the air base in Niamey.
Smaller groups were deployed alongside Nigerien soldiers to the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, where jihadist groups linked to the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda are believed to operate.
The withdrawal was a complex operation, with road convoys having to drive up to 1,700 kilometres (1,000 miles) on sometimes perilous desert routes to Chad.
The first French road convoy of troops withdrawing from Niger arrived in Chad's capital N'Djamena in October, after 10 days on the road.
From Chad, French troops can leave by air with their most sensitive equipment, though most of the rest will have to be moved by land and sea.
According to a source close to the matter, some of the French containers carrying equipment were to be driven from Chad on to the port of Douala in Cameroon, before being ferried back to France by sea.
- US, German troops -
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in September banded together in a joint defence pact to fight jihadists.
France's former ally in Niger, overthrown president Mohamed Bazoum, remains under house arrest.
A US official said in October that Washington was keeping about 1,000 military personnel in Niger but was no longer actively training or assisting Niger forces.
The United States said earlier this month that it was ready to resume cooperation with Niger on the condition its military regime committed to a rapid transition to civilian rule.
Niger's rulers want up to three years for a transition back to a civilian government.
Military leaders in Niamey early this month said they were ending two European Union security and defence missions in the country.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius visited Niger earlier this week to discuss the fate of around 120 German troops based in the country.
It was not immediately clear what would happen to Italian troops in Niger.
But an Italian diplomat has said France's departure presents its European partners with a dilemma.
"We have a responsibility not to leave because the void would immediately be filled by the Russians," the diplomat said.
France's withdrawal from Mali last year left a bitter aftertaste, after the bases it once occupied in Menaka, Gossi and Timbuktu were rapidly taken over by Russia's Wagner paramilitary group.
Related Links
Africa News - Resources, Health, Food
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
