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NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger's junta said Saturday the U.S. military presence in the country is no longer justified, making the announcement on state television after holding high-level talks with U.S. diplomatic and military officials this week. He said Niger was suspending military cooperation with Washington and added that U.S. flights over the country’s territory in recent weeks were illegal. The U.S. has also invested years and hundreds of millions of dollars in training Niger's military. Photos You Should See View All 60 ImagesThe Niger junta spokesman said the U.S. tone was condescending and threatened Niger's sovereignty. The U.S. military had some 650 personnel working in Niger in December, according to a White House report to Congress.

Persons: — Niger's, Maj, Amadou Abdramane, Niger's, Mohammed Bazoum, Molly Phee, Michael Langley, Phee, Jessica Donati Organizations: U.S, Washington, European Union, military's, Command, Niger, Associated Press Locations: NIAMEY, Niger, U.S, Africa's Sahel, Agadez, Niamey, Washington, Africa, France, Dakar, Senegal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is hosting Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço in the Oval Office on Thursday as he seeks to reaffirm his commitment to Africa even as two wars consume much of his administration's foreign policy focus. The visit comes as Biden appears set to break his commitment to African leaders to visit the continent this year — though senior U.S. officials have made key trips to Africa throughout 2023. This is a fundamental shift in Angolan foreign policy,” lobbyist Robert Kapla wrote in April to Biden confidant Amos Hochstein, according to lobbyist disclosure records. It's part of a global infrastructure program championed by Biden that is meant as a counterweight to China's Belt and Road initiative. Much of Biden's recent foreign policy focus has been on Russia's war in Ukraine and the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Persons: Joe Biden, João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, Angola's, Biden, ”, John Kirby, Lourenço, Robert Kapla, Amos Hochstein, Kapla, Molly Phee, “ Organizations: WASHINGTON, Angolan, Security, Biden, U.S, Democratic Locations: Africa, United States, China, Russia, Angolan, Lobito, Kananga, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, It's, Ukraine, Israel, U.S

☆ Niger response: 'Washington has to thread a very difficult needle'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Jennifer Hansler | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —The United States and its Western allies are faced with a difficult conundrum as they navigate potential responses to the military takeover in Niger if democratic rule is not restored. Experts told CNN that punitive measures could push Niger toward Russian mercenary groups like Wagner and away from its partners in the West. US officials have said there are no indications that the organization was involved in the military takeover. We don’t really know who this new general is” who has seized power, she told CNN. Felbab-Brown told CNN that Prigozhin is trying to “personally” take advantage, given his “precarious” place following his failed revolt.

Persons: Biden, Vedant Patel, John Kirby, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, ”, Cameron Hudson, ‘, Antony Blinken, Vanda Felbab, Brown, Bob Menendez, Jim Risch, Kirby, Mohamed Bazoum, Gen, Abdourahamane Tiani, Bazoum, “, ” Hudson, Kamissa Camara, Camara, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, We’re, ” Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin, “ It’s, Prigozhin, Putin, shouldn’t, ” Kirby, Blinken, United Nations Linda Thomas, Greenfield, Kamala Harris, Bola Tinubu, African Affairs Molly Phee, Hassoumi Massoudou, Mahamadou Issoufou “, Patel Organizations: CNN, US State Department, Nigerien, State Department, National Security Council, Experts, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Central African, West, Brookings, Senate Foreign Relations, Democratic, US Institute of Peace, Russian Foreign Ministry, African Union, Economic, West African States, United Nations, African Affairs, Nigerien Foreign, ” State Department Locations: United States, Niger, Russian, Africa, “ Washington, Sahel, Mali, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Niamey, “, Hudson, Russia, St . Petersburg, Moscow, Sudan, New Zealand, Nigeria

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. assistant secretary of State for African affairs, Molly Phee, will travel to Addis Ababa on Monday and Tuesday to meet with African leaders and Sudanese civilians on how to end the conflict in Sudan, the State Department said on Sunday. Diplomatic efforts to halt fighting between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have so far proved ineffective, with competing initiatives creating confusion over how the warring parties might be brought to negotiate. During her travel, Phee will meet with Sudanese civilians and with senior representatives of governments in the region, the East African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development and the African Union Commission, according to the State Department. Egypt said on Sunday it would host a summit of Sudan's neighbors on July 13 to discuss ways to end the conflict between the rival Sudanese military factions. Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Molly Phee, Phee, Kanishka Singh, Leslie Adler Organizations: U.S, State Department, Rapid Support Forces, Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF, East, Authority, Development, African Union Commission, Thomson Locations: Addis Ababa, Sudan, Khartoum, Sudan's, El Obeid, Egypt, Jeddah, United States, Saudi Arabia, East, Kenya, Washington

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - All U.S. government personnel were evacuated from Washington's embassy in Khartoum, as well as a small number of diplomatic personnel from other countries, U.S. officials said on Saturday, as fighting rocks Sudan. The operation evacuated fewer than 100 people, the officials told reporters. "We evacuated all of the U.S. personnel and dependents assigned to Embassy Khartoum," said Under Secretary of State for Management John Bass. A substantial number of local staff remain in Khartoum supporting the embassy, where Washington decided to suspend operations on Saturday due to the security risks, Bass said. U.S. forces spent just an hour on the ground in Sudan before taking off again, entering and exiting Sudan without being fired upon by the warring factions on the ground, the military said.

☆ Special forces swiftly evacuate US embassy staff from Sudan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Smoke rises during clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, Sudan on April 19, 2023. U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the American embassy in warring Sudan on Sunday, sweeping in and out of the capital, Khartoum, with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. However, John Bass, a U.S. undersecretary of state, denied claims by one faction, Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, that it assisted in the U.S. evacuation. Biden had ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation from his national security team, with no end in sight to the fighting. The U.S. evacuation planning for American employees of the embassy got underway in earnest on Monday after the embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum.

PinnedThe United States military airlifted embassy officials out of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, amid continuing violence as rival military leaders battled for control of Africa’s third-largest country, President Biden said late on Saturday. (Mr. Godfrey — the first U.S. ambassador to Sudan in a quarter-century — arrived in the country about eight months ago.) They had lived in the same apartment buildings as some American diplomatic staff and arrived together at the embassy, he said. “I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our embassy staff, who performed their duties with courage and professionalism and embodied America’s friendship and connection with the people of Sudan,” Mr. Biden said. Credit... Ebrahim Hamid/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesU.S. officials have said that about 16,000 American citizens were living in Sudan, many of them dual nationals.

☆ Sudan: People scramble to leave Khartoum after attempted ceasefires fail to stop violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Eyewitnesses said Thursday that reinforcements for the paramilitary RSF were on their way to Khartoum when army forces confronted them with warplanes and ground forces. There was an increase in the number of people at bus stops, trying to leave Khartoum and escape the fighting, according to witnesses. A water and electricity crisis has continued in Khartoum, with food shortages in shops and pharmacies closed, eyewitnesses say. The union also said that five ambulances had been attacked by military forces, and others were prevented from transporting patients for treatment and delivering aid. A latest attempt to strike a ceasefire for 24 hours was quickly upended late on Wednesday, when clashes erupted north of Khartoum.

CNN —The situation on the ground in Sudan on Wednesday remained too volatile to get diplomatic staff from the US Embassy in Khartoum out of the country, a top State Department official told congressional staffers. Another US official told CNN that State Department officials are in contact with Pentagon officials in Djibouti where the US has military assets to determine the best evacuation operation. Officials told staffers Wednesday that there are an estimated 16,000 American citizens in Sudan, most of whom are dual nationals, and roughly 500 had contacted the US Embassy since the outbreak of fighting. “Within Sudan, the Department of Defense’s mission is primarily focused on providing security at the US Embassy. While operational security prevents us from going into detail, the Department of Defense, through the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group, provides ongoing security for diplomatic facilities worldwide,” he said.

☆ Blinken meets Ethiopian leader to repair ties damaged by war
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Daphne Psaledakis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/11] U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 15, 2023. "We have agreed to strengthen the long standing bilateral relations between our countries with a commitment to partnership," the Ethiopian leader said. While the peace deal has allowed humanitarian aid to flow into Tigray, needs remain immense after the conflict left hundreds of thousands facing starvation. Eritrean troops remain in several border areas while militia from the Amhara region, which neighbours Tigray, occupy large areas of territory in contested parts of western and southern Tigray, humanitarian workers said. A spokesperson for the Amhara regional government said it and the people of Amhara were "always ready to co-operate with peace deal process and activities".

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