Niger coup could complicate UN peacekeepers withdrawal from Mali

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A coup in Niger could have a "negative impact" on the United Nations withdrawing its decade-long peacekeeping operation in neighboring Mali, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday. The U.N. Security Council last month ended the mission in Mali after the West African country's military junta abruptly asked the 13,000-strong force to leave - a move the United States said was engineered by Russia's Wagner mercenary group. Chad is the largest contributor to the mission with some 1,400 troops in Mali, but a coup in Niger on Wednesday could now make it diffic...