Niger's government announced that it was breaking off its military cooperation agreement with the United States "with immediate effect".
The government decided to "denounce'' the agreement relating to US military and civilian employees of the US Department of Defense inside Niger, the junta said in a statement read out on Saturday evening on national television.
The declaration came just a day after a senior US delegation left Niger, following a three-day visit to renew contact with the military junta that ousted President Bazoum Mohamed last year.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington was aware of the statement, and that it came after "frank discussions ... about our concerns" with the junta's "trajectory."
'No longer justified'
Miller said on X that the US was still in touch with the junta and would provide updates "as warranted."
The Pentagon provided AFP news agency with an identical statement. Niger's junta says US military presence in the country was no longer justified.
The United States still stations some 1,000 troops in Niger at a desert drone base built at a cost of $100 million.
Movements there have been limited since the July 2023 coup and Washington has curbed assistance to the government.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a rare visit to Niger a year ago in hopes of shoring up president Mohamed Bazoum, a stalwart ally in Western security efforts against armed groups ravaging several countries in the Sahel region.
The French
Just four months later, the military deposed Bazoum and put him under house arrest. He has not been freed yet.
The junta has also taken a hard line against former colonial power France, forcing the withdrawal of French troops in place for nearly a decade.
Niger's military had in the past worked closely with the United States.
Neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, also led by juntas, have taken similar stance breaking off with Western countries, particularly their former colonial ruler France.
The West African countries are seen to be forging closer ties with Russia, a key foe of the West.
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