Republic of Niger

Executive Profile (BLUF)

Niger is a landlocked Sahelian state that became a focal point of Western strategic retreat in West Africa following the July 2023 coup against President Mohamed Bazoum — a coup that closed the last major US and French counterterrorism base in the Sahel. The military junta (CNSP) subsequently expelled US forces from Agadez Air Base (2024), terminated French partnerships, and pivoted toward Russia as a security patron. Niger’s strategic significance exceeds its size: it hosts Africa Corps (Wagner Group successor) operations, sits at the center of migration flows toward Libya and the Mediterranean, and controls substantial uranium reserves long critical to French nuclear power infrastructure.

Key Relationships

• Africa Corps | Wagner Group — Russian security partnership post-US expulsion
• France — expelled 2023; end of Operation Barkhane / Sahelian Françafrique
• United States — expelled from Agadez Air Base 2024; strategic loss for Sahel ISR/drone operations
• Mali | Burkina Faso — Alliance of Sahel States (AES); mutual defense pact; anti-France bloc
• ECOWAS — suspended Niger; threatened military intervention (not executed)
• JNIM | Al-Qaeda — jihadist insurgency escalating post-Western withdrawal
• Libya — northern corridor for migration and arms flows