France is set to begin withdrawing its troops from coup-hit Niger after President Emmanuel Macron said last month he refused to be "held hostage" by the putschists and was ending military co-operation with the West African country. The decision to begin pulling 1500 troops from Niger this week leaves a gaping hole in Western efforts to counter a decade-long Islamist insurgency. It also deals a huge blow to French influence in the Sahel and could allow Russia to expand its sway over the region's vast, insecure scrublands. In a statement on Thursday, the French Armed Forces Ministry said the troops would return to France and that the military exit should be complete by the end of the year. Niger was the West's last key ally in the central Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert until a July 26 coup brought in a military junta which called for France to leave. Macron has also pulled his ambassador out of Niger. Australian Associated Press