The killing of four US soldiers in Niger has highlighted the geo-strategic role the mainly desert west African nation plays in the American fight against Islamist groups in Africa.

In the aftermath of the soldiers' deaths, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, revealed that about 800 US troops are now based in Niger -- more than in any other African country.

Many Americans were shocked to learn of such a large US military presence in the country, three-quarters of which comprises arid territory on the southern edge of the Sahara.

Niger's landlocked position in northwest Africa makes it vulnerable to armed violence coming from neighbouring countries. It shares borders with Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali and Nigeria.

In the southeast, Niger faces constant attacks from Boko Haram, whose Islamist insurgency at a cost of thousands of lives has spilled over from Nigeria, where the movement seeks to set up a caliphate.

Regions in the north and west of Niger are prey to groups allied with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which emerged in 2007 from a radical movement fighting the Algerian goverment.

Jihadists including the Islamic State group have also established a presence in the southwest near the border with Mali.

It was on the Niger-Mali border that the four US soldiers, along with five Niger troops, died in an attack carried out by locals associated with IS in early October, according to Dunford.

A total of 6,000 US troops are deployed in 53 African countries, Dunford said on Monday, but many of them safeguard embassies.

Africa also has the greatest number of US special forces after the Middle East. The number of the elite troops across the continent rose from 450 in 2012 to 1,300 in 2017, official figures show.

These units train local forces in counter-terrorism and "will only accompany those forces when the prospects of enemy contact is unlikely", Dunford said.

- 'More actions in Africa, not less' -

"Niger is close to two major threats, Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb," said a security source in the region.

The United States has "trained and equipped" a battalion of the Niger army and "they do a lot of joint missions", the source said.

Niger has also allowed the United States to build a large drone base at an estimated cost of $100 million (84 million euros) near the central trading city of Agadez.

Despite its troubled regions, the country of 18 million is seen as politically stable, the security source said.

One of the world's poorest nations but rich in uranium mined notably by French giant Areva, Niger is at the heart of trafficking in drugs, migrants and weapons because of its crossroads location in west Africa.

"The terrorist networks are financed by trafficking," a French military source said.

After IS lost its de-facto capital Raqa in Syria this month, and its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul earlier in the year, the group "has aspirations to establish a larger presence" in Africa, Dunford said.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, indicated that the United States may increase its military presence.

"The war is morphing. We're going to see more actions in Africa, not less," Graham said last Friday.

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US military to pursue Niger operations after deadly attack
Washington (AFP) Oct 23, 2017
The United States will maintain its large military presence in Niger to assist local forces despite the deaths of four American soldiers in an ambush, the Pentagon's top officer said Monday. Nearly three weeks after jihadists attacked a joint US-Niger patrol in a sensitive border area, General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US is firmly committed to supportin ... read more

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