The United States (U.S.) is not considering establishing a military base in Nigeria, Major General Kenneth Ekman, the Department of Defence West Africa Coordination Element Lead, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), has said.
General Ekman, who spoke against the backdrop of his country’s withdrawal from its Niger Republic military bases, said: “I am aware of no discussions between U.S. and Nigerian authorities on placing a U.S. base in Nigeria as a result of the Niger withdrawal.
“So if strategy is war on a map, and if the problem we’re trying to solve is Sahelian-based violent extremism, and if the U.S. is not functioning in Niger, then where should we be?
“That’s what led us to an outside-in approach relative to the Sahel. Does that make sense? So outside-in. And then anytime you talk about outside-in, the important question is, what is Nigeria’s role, given the strength of the nation, given the closeness of our partnership? So it’s a very natural question.
“And I’m not surprised that some people assumed that there were discussions going on about this.”
He also disclosed that the U.S. has no plan to build any big military base anywhere else in West Africa.
According to him: “If Niger allowed the U.S. to work with partners to go inside-out for lack of access to Niger, we are now focused on an outside-in approach. And so countries where we’re having conversations, countries where we have started putting some forces, including Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, we have some U.S. forces there now. I’m going to Accra next.
“I’m keenly interested in what their authorities have to say. It’s got to be right for the partner. And then I was just in N’Djamena a couple of weeks ago as we talked about the next phase for the posture of U.S. forces.
“In all cases, we’re starting with just small elements, small special operations teams that provide advice and assistance and training to the host nation forces. And so that’s the steps for what next. I think that big bases is just not right for the environment.”
On the withdrawal of the military presence from Niger, Ekman said: “We’re almost done. We’ve achieved, together with our Nigerien partners, the safe, orderly, and responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces. A couple of key milestones within that.
“On the 5th of August, we watched the last C-17 fly out of Air Base 201, which is in Agadez, and that was the last major movement of U.S. forces and material. And then just two days ago, we signed over the last U.S. posture location, and as I speak to you today, all former U.S. areas, facilities, and material that remain in Niger have been turned over to the Nigerien military and to the Nigerien authorities. So we’re almost done.”
Ekman, while noting that the deadline of September 15 withdrawal from Niger would be met, highlighted how the withdrawal was conducted:
“First, all sensitive equipment, all lethal equipment came out. And then we had to look as we went through the equipment, where did it cost more to move it than it cost in terms of remaining value to divest it? And so I’ve walked these places.
“I’ve seen exactly what we’ve turned over to our Nigerien partners. And it mostly amounts to spaces, it amounts to buildings, and it amounts to non-tactical vehicles. Those are the kinds of things that we turned over.
“And then they are a resource for them. And so as an example, Air Base 201 in Agadez, it was almost a small city, right? So we made sure that they understood how to run the electricity, how to run the water treatment plant. They received some physical infrastructure that our goal would be it continues to operate, right? So that’s how we proceeded.”
