Both nations have been severely criticised for violating human rights in their respective regional conflicts.
The US racked up diplomatic setbacks over the past four years, including losing America’s major spy base in Niger and failing to negotiate a deal with any ally to reposition those assets. It is now caught without a foothold among the Sahel region’s Russia-backed military juntas just as the region becomes the world’s terrorism hotpot.
These include being caught by surprise when war erupted in Sudan in April last year, he said, and bungling talks with Niger’s junta over its airbase. Washington has made little progress towards advancing access to vast reserves of African minerals that it says are critical for national security. A flagship U.S.-backed railway project to export resources through Angola to the West is still years from completion.