Germany will withdraw its forces from an air base in Niger after failing to reach an agreement with the Nigerian authorities regarding the legal immunity of its military personnel, the Ministry of Defense announced to the parliament in Berlin, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
The Niamey air base, a key factor in Western efforts to curb terrorism in the region, will be closed on August 31, when all servicemen stationed there will have returned to Germany.
According to a Ministry of Defense notification to Parliament, which DPA has seen, the government has "reassessed" of the changes in the situation in recent weeks and has made the decision to leave.
"The draft agreement submitted to us by Niger cannot serve as a basis for negotiating a status agreement either in terms of its nature or its content," the defense ministry wrote. The immunity of the German troops is not guaranteed, and the positions of the two countries are far from each other, the department states.
Negotiations on a status agreement have been suspended, and cooperation and training projects by the German defense and foreign ministries will no longer be implemented, Pistorius' ministry said.
The air base in Niamey served as a logistics hub for the UN peacekeeping mission in neighboring Mali (MINUSMA), which was established in 2013 and disbanded a year ago.
The Nigerian army took control of the country in a coup on July 26 last year. However, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius supported limited cooperation with the coup leaders under certain conditions.