Togo: President Faure Gnassingbé dismisses the Minister of Armies and the Chief of Staff

Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé.

AFP - LUDOVIC MARIN

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

A large reshuffle took place in Togo in a very tense military context in the far north of the country.

The Minister of the Armed Forces, Marguerite Essossimna Gnakadè, is sacked.

His ministry will now be directly attached to the presidency.

A new Chief of Staff of the Togolese Armed Forces is appointed.  

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Have the Minister of the Armed Forces and the Chief of Staff of the Togolese Armed Forces paid the price for the deterioration of the security situation in the far north of the country?

The question may arise.

The border regions with Burkina Faso have been the target of repeated attacks for 13 months.

Some bloody ones like the one that hit

last July.

Several people were then killed.

At the end of November, the

had been hit by two attacks, one of which claimed the lives of around ten soldiers, according to several sources contacted by RFI.

It is certainly to try to better contain the

that Faure Gnassingbé therefore decided to make this double change.

The announcement was made on Thursday evening, December 22, on television.

Marguerite Gnakadè, his Minister of the Armies, is thanked.

As he had already done between 2007 and 2020, the Togolese president has chosen to regain control of this ministry himself, which will therefore be attached to the presidency.

Another change: General Dadja Maganawé was ousted from his post as Chief of Staff of the Togolese Armed Forces.

An eviction which is not really surprised according to a good connoisseur of the file.

He is replaced by the former Air Force Chief of Staff, Colonel Tassounti Djato, who is promoted to the rank of general.

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• Togo

• Faure Gnassingbe

• Defense