Not burdened by France’s colonial history, the Americans are trying to show they can be non-domineering towards African governments.

Niger’s military rulers have given the US until September 15 to remove its troops from the country, which also means leaving a $100 million drone base near Agadez in central Niger that had provided a crucial source of intelligence about extremist groups allied to al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS).

For the first time in about 30 years, a US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff  visited sub-Saharan Africa. Air Force General C Q  Brown, who now serves in that position travelled to Botswana this week to speak to African military leaders.

The US had thought it could strike a better deal with Niger’s junta than the French. The military rulers in Niamey have already ordered out French troops amid heightened hostility to the former colonial power and increasingly turned to Russia and Iran for support. They have also recently revoked the operating licence of French nuclear fuel producer Orano at one of the world’s biggest uranium mines

“Our ability to monitor the threat is degraded because of the loss of Agadez,” one US official told Reuters.

US officials are particularly concerned about the growth of ISIS as well as Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate. They say they need to monitor such groups before they constitute a threat to Europe and the US.

The changing political landscape in West and Central Africa presents a dilemma for the United States. The region has seen eight coups over four years, including in Niger and its neighbours Burkina Faso and Mali.

Since 2020, soldiers in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have carried out coups blaming political leaders for allowing Islamist extremists to gain ground. Once in power, juntas have torn up defence agreements with the US, French and UN forces and invited Russians to take their place.