Canadian special forces withdraw from Niger

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Canadian special forces withdrew with plans to continue operations in Niger, withdrawing remaining special forces from the country.

The decision comes as Niger’s military leaders move to strengthen cooperation with Russia.

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The Ministry of Defense initially told this newspaper on Dec. 7 that Canadian special forces would remain in Niger even if the troops participating in the training gave up territory to the country’s democratically elected government. announced.

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The small team of Canadian special forces members will not train members of Niger’s military, but will remain in the country to plan future operations in the region, the ministry noted at the time.

But a week later, that plan was reversed. Canadian troops have returned home, according to a statement released Monday by Canadian Special Operations Command (CANSOFCOM).

“As of January 2024, we can confirm that CANSOFCOM no longer has personnel operating in Niger and those personnel have returned to Canada,” said Lt. Col. Christine Hurov, CANSOFCOM’s senior public affairs officer. said in an email. “These decisions were made in mid-December 2023.”

Hurov did not specify the reason for the decision to withdraw troops.

However, in December, Niger’s military government severed defense ties with the European Union and expelled all 1,400 French troops stationed in the country.

The move is supported by the Nigerien public as anger continues over France’s role in Niger’s colonization and claims that France continues to seek control of the country.

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Reuters reported on January 16 that Russia and Niger have agreed to develop military cooperation between the two countries.

Burkina Faso has also removed French troops and strengthened ties with Russia. Russia also provides military and economic support to the regimes in the Central African Republic and Mali. African countries have also asked Russia for help in fighting the rebels.

The United States still has about 1,000 soldiers in Niger, but it no longer trains the country’s soldiers.

Hurov said Canada will continue to engage with African defense partners. She noted that CANSOFCOM will participate in this year’s Flintlock exercise.

Canadian special forces have also participated in U.S.-led flintlock training in Africa for more than a decade. During that time, they trained troops from Niger through five different flintlock exercises.

But African soldiers trained by U.S. and allied special forces at Flintlock have a track record of staging coups to remove civilian-elected governments from power in their countries. The military officers who staged a coup in Niger in July were trained in the Flintlock exercise.

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Flintlock-trained officials in Burkina Faso and Mali also ousted elected governments. In February 2023, Rolling Stone magazine outlined how at least seven coups in Africa had been led by soldiers trained by the U.S. military in Africa, including soldiers who had participated in Exercise Flintlock. did.

Documents obtained by this newspaper through the Access to Information Act say CANSOFCOM is sensitive to media reports outlining links between Flintlock and Canada’s African Training Corps and military coups and human rights abuses.

These discussions among CANSOFCOM officials previously focused on this newspaper’s September 2020 article on flintlocks. Senior officers said the article included material from Jeremy Keenan, a professor at Queen Mary University of London, who said Niger’s military was responsible for some of the worst atrocities against civilians in the region. I didn’t feel comfortable being there. The article also included a passage about Niger’s human rights commission linking Niger’s military to the executions or disappearances of 170 civilians.

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The offending text in the article sparked an outcry from military officers, including Major General Johnson, then commander of CANSOFCOM. Peter Dawe asks about contacting newspaper management to respond to the story.

Mr. Do acknowledged the article as factual, but added in an email: “Please do not lose grip on the story.”

Defense officials say the military wants to make the case that Canada’s special forces take international law seriously and include such training when teaching African forces.

Despite Doe’s concerns, CANSOFCOM did not contact the paper, as Maj. Amber Bineau, the commander’s public information officer, noted that “the article is accurate.” However, she expressed her frustration that this “does not go far enough in explaining and contextualizing the complexities of the region.”