France to begin withdrawing troops from Niger this week

PHOTO CAPTION: Representational photo — A French sniper, armed with a Sako TRG-42 chambered in 338 Lapua Magnum, and his spotter are seen in Mali, March 28, 2020. (French Army photo via Wikimedia Commons)

PARIS (Reuters) -France will begin withdrawing its troops from coup-hit Niger this week after President Emmanuel Macron said last month he refused to be "held hostage" by the putchists and was ending military cooperation with the West African country.

The decision to pull 1,500 troops from Niger leaves a gaping hole in Western efforts to counter a decade-long Islamist insurgency. It also deals a huge blow to French influence in the Sahel and could allow Russia to expand its sway over the region's vast, insecure scrublands.

In a statement on Thursday, the French Armed Forces Ministry said the troops would return to France and that the military exit should be complete by the end of the year.

Niger was the West's last key ally in the central Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert until a July 26 coup brought in a military junta which called for France to leave.

Macron also pulled his ambassador out of Niger.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Nicolas Delame;Editing by Richard Lough and Gareth Jones)