NIGER
Now It’s Official
The US military confirmed that it has deployed armed drones in Niger earlier this year – as had long been suspected.
Niger granted permission for the deployment in November 2017, not long after a deadly ambush drew attention to the little-known US military presence in the West African country. But neither side had confirmed that armed drones had actually been put into use, Al-Jazeera reported.
Deployed to Niger’s Air Base 101 in the capital, Niamey, the drones are meant to “improve our combined ability to respond to threats and other security issues in the region,” Samantha Reho, spokeswoman for US Africa Command, told the Associated Press.
The US now has around 800 soldiers in Niger, where they accompany Nigerien troops on intelligence gathering and other missions. But the drone program could well prove controversial in Niger as it has in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen – where critics blame the remote-control strikes for hundreds of civilian casualties.
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