German soldiers completed their withdrawal from Niger on Friday, the commander of Niger’s ground forces and a German officer announced at a ceremony in Niamey.
“The Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Niger and the Ministry of Defence of the Federal Republic of Germany announce the end of the withdrawal of German troops and equipment from Niger on August 30 with the closure of the site belonging to them at Air Base 101 in Niamey,” said Nigerien General Mamman Sani Kyaw, reading a statement signed by him and German Army Colonel Carsten Strauss.
On July 6, Germany announced that it had stopped using its air transport base in Niger, and that it would complete the withdrawal of its soldiers by August 31.
In May, the two countries agreed to continue using the Niamey base until August 31, but negotiations to extend this have not been fruitful.
“In total, five cargo planes made it possible to return 60 members of the German armed forces to Germany, in addition to 146 tons of equipment,” Qiao added.
He stressed that the operation was carried out “safely thanks to coordination between the Nigerian and German armed forces.”
He pointed out that “this withdrawal does not mean the end of military cooperation between Niger and Germany (…) The two parties pledged to maintain their relations in the military field.”
The German Ministry of Defense announced at the beginning of July the end of this type of cooperation with Niamey.
The withdrawal of German soldiers comes after the withdrawal of French soldiers at the end of 2023, and the US forces are set to leave Niger permanently by mid-September.
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