Niger Says US To Submit Plan To 'disengage' Troops

Umer Jamshaid Published March 27, 2024 | 11:43 PM

Niger on Wednesday said the United States will shortly submit a proposal to "disengage" its soldiers from the country, after the regime said it was withdrawing from a 2012 cooperation deal with Washington

Niamey, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Mar, 2024) Niger on Wednesday said the United States will shortly submit a proposal to "disengage" its soldiers from the country, after the regime said it was withdrawing from a 2012 cooperation deal with Washington.

Interior minister General Mohamed Toumba met US ambassador Kathleen FitzGibbon on Wednesday to discuss the issue, his ministry said in Niamey, the West African nation's capital.

FitzGibbon told the minister that Washington had "taken note of the decision" by Niger to withdraw from the military agreement and would be "coming back with a plan" on the "methods for disengaging" the more than 1,000 US troops based in Niger, according to the ministry's statement.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to comment on the Nigerien interior ministry's assertion and said the status of US troops remained "broadly" the same for now.

The United States has been "in touch with the transition authorities to seek clarification" on statements about the troops, Miller told reporters.

"We have been having these conversations, but I don't think it would be productive for me to read them out," he added.