U.S. military drone missions in Niger continue

General James Hecker, commander of the US Air Forces in Europe and Africa, declared on Wednesday that the US military has started drone and manned aircraft activities out of its bases in Niger as part of its counterterrorism mission.

The activities have now resumed more than a month after they were suspended in response to the coup that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger on July 26.

Hecker told reporters on Wednesday at the annual Air and Space Forces Association convention in National Harbour, Maryland, that drone operations for intelligence and surveillance missions have started up again “in recent weeks” as a result of conversations with the coup leaders there.

According to Hecker, “we weren’t doing any missions on the bases for a while, they pretty much shut down the airfields.”

The military leader continued, “Through the diplomatic process, we are now performing, I wouldn’t say 100% of the operations that we were doing previously, but we’re doing a significant portion of missions that we’re doing before.

The main base for US military operations in West Africa’s Sahel region including counterterrorism intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance is Niger. Around 1,100 US troops are stationed at two locations that Washington maintains there.

Just days after seizing control of the government, Niamey’s new military leaders declared last week that they had reopened the nation’s airspace to all commercial aircraft, which had been shut down since early August.

Although commercial flight access has not “normalised” drone flying frequencies, a US military official told the VOA news site in an interview that was broadcast on Friday that it has.

Prior to 2019, the army has been using Agadez as a base for drone flights, according to a statement from the Pentagon.

The Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, Sabrina Singh, emphasised that there were no threats to US soldiers or acts of violence in the area and that the action was “merely a precautionary measure.”

According to reports, Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, the press secretary for the US Department of Defence, also stated that the US was once again sending aircraft to Niger, but merely to “monitor for threats for the purposes of force protection.”