The Department of State and the Department of Defense rejected allegations of neglect, saying the United States was making a last-ditch effort to maintain a U.S. military presence in Niger after the coup, while acknowledging that talks are difficult and may not result in a deal.
The whistleblower’s complaint was sent to Capitol Hill before U.S. officials met with Niger’s prime minister on Wednesday. Follow-up discussions with other senior Nigerien officials were scheduled for next week – talks that could seal the fate of Washington’s relationship with what had been its main security partner in a region racked by violence from groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda .
“There is a very narrow path here to find a compromise that addresses their interests and concerns and our interests and concerns,” said a senior State Department official, who, like others, spoke out on condition of anonymity to discuss the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts. “It might not work, but the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.”
View the whistleblower’s private complaint to Congress
The whistleblower’s allegations highlight the United States’ difficulties operating in an increasingly unstable region of Africa. In 2017, four U.S. soldiers were killed after being ambushed during a mission in Niger, which military investigators blamed on a lack of training, planning and other institutional failures.
For years, the Pentagon has deployed a mix of mostly Air Force and Army personnel to Niger to support a mission to examine militant groups in the region. Until the coup, the deal included drones flying in counterterrorism operations from a U.S.-built base and U.S. and Nigerien troops teaming up for some patrols.
Niger’s military junta last month declared the US military presence there “illegal” and said it was ending. all agreements, effective immediately. The announcement followed tense meetings with senior State Department and Pentagon officials, whom Nigerien leaders accused of trying to force the West African country to have no relationship with Iran. , Russia or other American adversaries.
In his complaint, addressed to Rep. Dusty Johnson (RS.D.) and other lawmakers, whistleblower targets Ambassador Kathleen FitzGibbon and Air Force Col. Nora J. Nelson-Richter, a defense attaché stationed there, accusing them both of endangering security of 1,100 American military personnel who are “held hostage” in Niger while a diplomatic resolution remains elusive.
U.S. Embassy officials referred questions to the State Department in Washington, which denied the whistleblower’s claims. A spokesperson for Johnson’s office declined to comment, saying it does not discuss possible correspondence with clients.
The complaint reveals new details about the status of U.S. forces in Niger and restrictions on their ability to exchange personnel. After the coup, the whistleblower wrote, service members were told to “sit tight” at their bases, leaving them unable to carry out their counterterrorism mission or return to the United States once they were deployed. of six months arrived at the scheduled end.
“They have not been transparent with the US military deployed to this country,” the aviator wrote of senior embassy officials, adding that although they “pretended that ‘ things were working’, they demanded permissions to fly US military aircraft into that country. Nigerien airspace was deliberately ‘not approved by the country’s military government as a political bargaining chip to incentivize the US government. to come back and negotiate its withdrawal.”
Reached by telephone, the whistleblower declined to comment, citing fears of professional retaliation and security concerns. The Post verified the individual’s name, rank and title, but generally does not identify whistleblowers who send protected communications to Congress.
Senior U.S. officials said they sympathized with concerns posed by staff unable to perform their duties since last summer’s coup, but they rejected the whistleblower’s assertion that Embassy leaders had suppressed intelligence or put American troops in danger.
“No one deletes any information: we see the good, the bad and the ugly. This feeds into the deliberative process,” the senior State Department official said. “For that person, it might be slow.”
Gen. Michael Langley, who oversees U.S. military activity in Africa, confirmed in a statement to the Post that some diplomatic authorizations for military flights have recently been denied, extending the deployment of U.S. troops in some cases. Senior leaders at his headquarters, he said, are working closely with the State Department and other organizations to ensure that U.S. forces deployed to Niger have what they need.
While the Department of Defense “suspended” many activities in Niger following the July coup, Langley said, “we greatly appreciate the U.S. forces deployed to the region, which continue to enable the (Department of Defense) Defense) to monitor potential threats throughout the country. Sahel to protect U.S. personnel, assets, and interests, including the well-being of our partners.
A U.S. defense official said some units have been moving in and out of Niger since the coup, while other deployments have been extended.
“But this is not uncommon,” the defense official said, “especially in remote locations.”
Asked Tuesday during a House Armed Services Committee hearing about stopping flights to Niger, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy A. George said that ‘it was aware that this was a problem.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who said during the hearing that he spoke to a half-dozen U.S. military personnel serving in Niger and criticized George and his civilian counterpart, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, for not taking the situation more seriously.
“We currently have Army soldiers in Niger who are not receiving their troop rotations, who are not receiving their medicine, who are not receiving their supplies, who are not receiving their mail and the two senior U.S. officials . The military is sitting in front of me and it’s like ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil,'” Gaetz said.
Gaetz accused government officials of delaying the inevitable departure of U.S. forces from Niger to spare the Biden administration the embarrassment of having to close facilities that cost the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars to build only recently – an accusation denied by those responsible.
U.S. officials have said they are exploring the possibility of having a similar mission run from another West African country, but no details have been released.
The whistleblower is deployed at Air Base 101 in Niamey. In the months after the coup, senior Pentagon officials said U.S. troops were consolidating from the base in Niamey to another installation, Air Base 201, outside the Nigerien city of Agadez. U.S. troops remain present at both sites, with a majority of 201 personnel, defense officials said.
The facility outside Agadez was designed in 2013 and completed in 2019, according to a Defense Department inspector general report released in 2020 that cited the project for mismanagement and cost overruns. Construction of the base cost at least $100 million, the report said, highlighting the long-term investment made by the Pentagon in Niger.
The fate of the US military presence has been uncertain since Niger’s military overthrew the country’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, last summer.
The United States has suspended security cooperation with Niger, limiting its activities — including unarmed drone flights — to the protection of U.S. personnel. The Sahel region, which includes neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, has become a global hotbed of Islamic extremism in recent years, and Niger saw such attacks increase dramatically after the coup.
Efforts by senior U.S. officials to convince Niger to return to the democratic path so that U.S. aid can resume have made little progress. Bazoum remains detained and no timetable has been set for the elections, despite repeated requests from U.S. officials.
Then last month, an American delegation went to Niamey. He understood Langley, Molly Phee, the State Department’s top official for African affairs, and Celeste Wallander, the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.
In a statement read live on television in mid-March, junta spokesperson Amadou Abdramane accused the American delegation of condescension and stressed Niger’s right to choose its own partners. Since then, the junta has not publicly changed its position.
Last week, at least 100 Russian instructors arrived in Niamey, marking an escalation in security relations between Niger and Moscow that analysts say could make it difficult, if not impossible, for the United States to continue its own cooperation. in terms of security. According to reports broadcast by Niger state television, Russian instructors are providing training and equipment, including an air defense system, to Niger.
Among Nigerians, there has been a growing sense of resentment toward the U.S. presence since the junta’s announcement last month, an issue that Langley, at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month, addressed attributed in part to Russian disinformation.
Last weekend, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Niamey in a largely peaceful protest, chanting and holding signs calling for U.S. troops to leave.
Chason reported from Dakar, Senegal.
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