Germany's army, the Bundeswehr, has officially withdrawn its last soldiers from Niger, ending an eight-year mission.

The last 60 soldiers in the region were flown out of the army's now abandoned air base in the capital, Niamey, arriving in Germany late Friday.

At a signing ceremony in Niamey, representatives from both the Nigerian and German Defense Ministries announced, "the withdrawal of German troops and equipment from Niger."

A second transport jet shuttled equipment back to Germany. The base in Niamey was staffed by up to 120 men and women at any one time. The site served as a logistics center for the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping mission, which ended in late 2023.

In all, some 3,200 German soldiers served in the region during the deployment.

West being pushed out of Sahel as Russia enters

Niger was long considered a reliable partner for Europe and the US in the fight against terrorism, but last year the country was taken over by a military junta that came to power in a coup, one of several in the region in the recent past.

Berlin initially announced the decision to withdraw troops in July, noting that it had no cooperative working agreement with the new military government.

Like other neighboring Sahel countries now led by juntas, Niger's leaders, too, have turned to Russia for assistance in what has been sold as throwing off the imperialist chains of cooperation with Western nations.

Niger, has for instance, been housing a number of Russian "military trainers" in Niamey. Neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso have pursued similar cooperation with Moscow. Germany withdrew troops from Mali in July 2023.

The Bundeswehr said it hopes its former Niamey air base can continue to be used as a logistics center for the distribution of humanitarian goods.   

js/nm (AFP, dpa)