The government today, January 13, announced their replacement with General Salifou Midi taking over from sacked Ahmed Mohammed as armed forces chief of staff.
In a national radio today, the government named the new head of the army as Brigadier General Seidou Bague, replacing Sidikou Issa.
The government said that the decision to sack the army chiefs was made by a cabinet meeting shortly before Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou left for Pau, southwestern France, for a summit on the crisis in the Sahel.
It brings together a summit of the so-called G5 countries — Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania — with France, the former colonial power in the region, who is leading the fight against the insurgents.
According to UN figures, terrorist attacks in Burkina, Mali and Niger last year left 4,000 dead. Niger declared three days of national mourning after the attack on Chinegodar camp in western Niger last Thursday.
It was carried out by attackers arriving in vehicles and on motorbikes. The raid occurred in the same region, Tillaberi, where 71 soldiers were killed in December — a loss that deeply shocked the country. Mohamed and Issa had been appointed to their jobs only in 2018.
General Modi, 57, was a member of the Supreme Council for the Restoration for Democracy (CSRD), the official name of the military junta which staged a coup in 2010, returning the country to civilian rule after elections in 2011.
