French troops will begin withdrawing from Niger "this week", the French army said Thursday, after falling out with the military junta that took power since a July coup.
French soldiers were in Niger as part of a wider fight against militias across the Sahel region.
Some 400 are deployed alongside local troops in northwestern Niger, near its borders with Burkina Faso and Mali.
The "three borders" zone is known as a haven for the Islamic State group.
Soldiers withdrawing from the area would need cover to leave their exposed forward positions, the military said, possibly including air support from the larger force at an airbase outside the capital Niamey.
The troops have been living with uncertainty since the junta began demanding their departure, with irregular supplies of food and repeated anti-French demonstrations outside the Niamey base.
France had reinforced its presence in Niger after another coup-born military regime in Mali demanded its forces' departure, adding armoured vehicles and helicopters to the drones and fighter jets already deployed.
