The withdrawal marks the third time in 18 months that French troops have been dispatched from a country in the Sahel.
The last French troops in Niger have withdrawn, marking the end of more than a decade of French operations to combat armed groups in West Africa's Sahel region.
“Today’s date … marks the end of the withdrawal process of French forces in the Sahel,” Nigerian Army Lieutenant Salim Ibrahim said on Friday.
France said it would withdraw its roughly 1,500 soldiers and pilots from its former colony after Nigeria's military government called for them to leave following a July 26 coup.
It was the third time in less than 18 months that French troops were withdrawn from a country in the Sahel. They were forced to leave their former colonies of Mali last year and Burkina Faso earlier this year after recent military takeovers in those countries too.
All three nations are battling rebel violence that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 and later spread to Niger and Burkina Faso. But a series of coups in the region since 2020 – and the resulting rise in anti-French sentiment among the population – led to a collapse in relations with France and a greater rapprochement with Russia.
Following the French withdrawal from Niger, hundreds of US military personnel as well as a number of Italian and German soldiers remain in the country. Military leaders in Niamey said this month they would also end two European Union security and defense missions in the country.
France's withdrawal from Mali left a bitter aftertaste as the once-occupied bases in Menaka, Gossi and Timbuktu were quickly taken over by the Russian paramilitary group Wagner.
In September, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the withdrawal of all French troops from Niger by the end of the year. The first contingent left in October.
Most of the French soldiers in Niger were at an air base in Niamey. Smaller groups have been deployed alongside Nigerian soldiers on the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, where armed groups linked to IS (ISIS) and al-Qaeda are said to operate.
The withdrawal was a complex operation that required convoys to travel up to 1,700 km (1,000 miles) along sometimes dangerous desert routes to the French center for Sahel operations in neighboring Chad.
The first French troop convoy to withdraw from Niger arrived in Chad's capital, N'Djamena, after ten days on the road.
From Chad, French troops can leave by air with their most sensitive equipment, although the rest must be transported by land and sea.
A source told Agence France-Presse news agency on condition of anonymity that some of the French containers carrying equipment were scheduled to be driven from Chad to the port of Douala in Cameroon before continuing on to France.
France's former ally in Niger, ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, remains under house arrest.
A U.S. official said in October that Washington was keeping about 1,000 military personnel in Niger but was no longer actively training or supporting the Nigerian armed forces.
The United States said this month that it was ready to resume cooperation with Niger on the condition that the military government committed to a rapid transition to civilian rule.
Niger's rulers want up to three years for the transition back to civilian government.
