U.S. Forces Under ‘Protection Measures’ As African Troops Deploy for Niger

The Pentagon command overseeing U.S. military operations in Africa has told Newsweek that it has been instituting measures to safeguard personnel stationed in Niger after a coalition of West African nations announced troops had been activated in an effort to restore the constitutional order in the country. “AFRICOM is monitoring the situation in Niger, and U.S. forces continue to take prudent force protection measures,” a spokesperson for U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) told Newsweek. The remarks came after the Economic Coalition of West African States (ECOWAS) announced during an emergency summit Thursday the activation of a multinational standby force in response…