There are no plans to pull out any Italian soldiers stationed in Niger, the defence ministry said on Friday after media reports claimed Niger's president had requested a troop draw-down from Italy.
"No withdrawal of Italian military personnel is foreseen. The mission will be carried out with the full agreement of Niger's authorities," the ministry stated.
"As recently declared by Italy's Chief of Defence Staff, the reconnaissance unit is going ahead with its coordination and preparatory activities in accordance with the local authorities," the ministry added.
Around 40 out of up to 470 Italian soldiers have arrived in Niger as party of a training and support mission. But they are currently blocked at a US naval base awaiting orders after Niger's president Mahamadou Issoufou caved into local opposition to the mission and asked Italy to stop sending troops, Italy's Corriere della Sera reported on Friday.
The Italian parliament in January backed the deployment of a total 470 soldiers, 130 vehicles and two aircraft to Niger by the end of 2018 at a reported cost of 40.482 million euros. A total of 120 soldiers were due to be despatched to Niger by June.
The Italian military mission is part of European and US efforts to stabilise the Sahel and fight trafficking and terrorism in the region by helping security forces from Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania control their territories effectively.
