NIAMEY, Niger
Russian military trainers have arrived in Niger with an air defence system and other equipment as part of the West African nation’s deepening security ties with Moscow, state media reported.
Niger’s military government
agreed in January to step up military cooperation with Russia, after expelling
French forces that were helping fight armed rebellions in several Sahel
nations.
Broadcaster Tele Sahel showed
a Russian transport plane arriving at Niamey airport, as it reported late on
Thursday that “the latest military equipment and military instructors” from
Russia’s Ministry of Defence had landed in the capital.
Russia will
help “install an air defence system … to ensure complete control of our
airspace”, the report said.
State-run Radio Television du
Niger said on its Facebook page that 100 Russian military instructors had
arrived in Niamey.
There was no immediate comment
from Russia, which has been seeking to boost its influence in Africa, promoting
itself as a friendly country without a colonial background on the continent.
Niger, one of the world’s
poorest countries, had been a front-line partner of the West in battling armed
fighters in the Sahel but has turned to Russia since a coup last July overthrew
elected President Mohamed Bazoum.
In March, Niger decided
to revoke its military accord with the United States that
had allowed Pentagon personnel to operate on its soil from two bases, including
a drone base it built at a cost of more than $100m.
The US still maintains about
1,000 soldiers in Niger, but their movements have been limited since the coup.
The head of the military
government, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, spoke by telephone with Russian
President Vladimir Putin in March to discuss “global strategic cooperation”
against “current threats”, authorities said at the time, without elaborating.
Niger has
joined neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso – also ruled by military leaders after
coups – to create a joint force to battle long-running armed rebellions.
Violence in the region has
worsened since the coups, the instability exacerbating a humanitarian crisis in
the region bordering the Sahara desert. As of March, more than three million
people were displaced there, the International Organization of Migration said
this week.
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