American troops are no longer the only ones protecting an air base in Niger, Africa. The U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, revealed this last week.
These troops have been sent to a base in Niamey, which is the city of Niger. It’s not clear why Russian troops have been in Niger for weeks and have now been sent to Airbase 101. It’s also not clear how many troops they have.
Austin said, “Airbase 101, where our forces are, is a base for the Nigerien air force. It is connected to an international airport in the capital city.” They are in a separate compound from the US forces and can’t get to our equipment or the US troops.
A spokesman for the Kremlin said that Russia is “building ties with many African countries in all areas, including the military.”
When there was a coup last year, things got tense, and French and American troops were told to leave their posts. These things happened after several fights with former Niger colonies, which made Niger tell the troops to leave. They moved from Airbase 101 to Airbase 201, but a lot of people were worried that the Russian troops might have been able to get to any of the American military gear that was still at the base.
The U.S. built the airport in Niger that U.S. troops are using right now. It has been used to attack the Islamic State and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, which is an al-Qaida branch.
