US to Prepare Contingency Plans for Whether Troops Stay or Leave Niger - Official

WASHINGTON, (Sputnik) - The US is receiving mixed signals from Niger's transitional government about whether it will follow through with terminating the bilateral military agreement, but the US Defense Department continues to prepare contingency plans for a withdrawal of US forces, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Charles Brown said on Tuesday.

"There's been some mixed signals that we received ... we will continue to make plans and prepare whether we stay or or depart," Brown said during a press conference in Germany.

Niger’s break with US shows African countries tired of “disrespect” from West

African analyst Koffi Kouako joined Sputnik’s Fault Lines program to discuss the Niger government’s revocation of an agreement governing the presence of US troops and officials on the country’s soil.… pic.twitter.com/hcX41WcZaD

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Brown pointed out that the United States will look into establishing partnerships with other nations in West Africa for counterterrorism operations.

On Saturday, Amadou Abdramane, a spokesperson for the Nigerien military, said that the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) had denounced with immediate effect an agreement that allowed US military personnel and civilian Pentagon employees to operate on Niger's soil. Abdramane said the decision was taken in the interest of the Nigerien people.