The last French soldiers deployed in Niger are about to leave the country – three months after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he was withdrawing all troops deployed in the country, in accordance with the orders of the junta that came to power this summer. The French army was due to complete the dismantling of its installations at the base in Niger's capital Niamey on Friday, December 22. Its exit was accompanied by a rare measure: the closure of the French embassy in Niger.

While, at the beginning of the week, the French armed forces were not ruling out that the departure of troops might be delayed, this "theatre closure" (as this type of operation is known in military jargon) marks the end of more than 10 years of French presence in the region. Following the end of Operation Barkhane in Mali in autumn 2022 and the closure of the special forces base in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the withdrawal from Niger will complete the dismantling of France's counter-terrorism operations in these three countries.

For the French troops in Niger, it's the end of a difficult period behind closed doors. Throughout these last three months of disengagement, the French have had to deal with a particularly litigious junta, which was anxious that the French military might try to take the opportunity to overthrow it, and demanded that all maneuvres – helicopter flights, convoy times, arms transfers – be formalized in writing.

Against this tense backdrop, the French had to keep a low profile. While they were able to evacuate much of their equipment by air, a significant proportion of containers had to be exfiltrated by road via neighboring Chad, where France maintains a military presence. The Nigeriens have closed their border with Benin, fearing an armed offensive. This route forced French trucks to take a diversion of some 1,700 kilometers before reaching the port of Douala in Cameroon. "The Nigeriens prevented passage to Benin on the pretext that it was one of the countries applying the blockade decided by the Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS]. In reality, they did this to make things difficult for us," said one diplomatic source.

The most trying part of the withdrawal for the French, aside from the pressure of regular demonstrations demanding their departure, held in front of their installations, took place at the forward bases of Ouallam and Tabaré Baré. These two military bases are located in western Niger, close to the tri-border area bordering Mali and Burkina Faso, where jihadist groups are active.

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