The president of Niger on Monday dismissed the army’s chief of staff following last week’s attack on security forces that left 89 soldiers killed by extremists.
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Ahmed Mohamed will be replaced by Brig-Gen. Salifou Modi, formerly Niger’s military attache to Germany, a presidential statement announced on Monday. Issoufou Mahamadou also sacked the secretary general of the Defense Ministry and the chief of Land Staff, according to the statement.
The announcement came as Issoufou and five presidents from the Sahel region were meeting in France with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss security in the Sahel. The sacking follows reports that the death toll from a suspected terrorist attack last week on an army outpost in western Niger region had risen to 89.