Niger replaced two top military brass on Monday, four days after a jihadist assault on an army base left 89 dead in the biggest single loss in the country's history.

The new armed forces chief of staff is General Salifou Modi, who replaces General Ahmed Mohamed, the government said in a statement read on national radio.

The new head of the army is Brigadier General Seidou Bague, replacing Sidikou Issa.

The decision 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, jihadist 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.

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.

Chinese FM wraps up five-nation African tour
Harare (AFP) Jan 13, 2020 –

Chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi on Monday wrapped up a five-nation Africa tour after talks in Zimbabwe in which he pledged to strengthen cooperation despite a spat over aid figures.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday said, "he (Wang) goes back home satisfied that our relations are on a solid foundation."

"We as Zimbabweans are happy with our relations with China," Mnangagwa told reporters in the capital Harare.

Wang's week-long swing also took him to Egypt, Djibouti, Eritrea and Burundi, highlighting China's growing political interest and economic clout in Africa.

China's ties to Zimbabwe date back to the liberation struggle of the 1970s, when Beijing supported some of the top guerilla leaders.

After the end of white-minority rule in 1980, China was one of the first countries to establish a diplomatic mission in Harare.

But the two countries butted heads in November after Zimbabwe's government said it had only received $3.6 million (3.24 million euros) in aid from Beijing in 2019 — 40 times lower than the figure claimed by China.

Wang met his Zimbabwean counterpart Sibusiso Moyo on Sunday and pledged to strengthen cooperation with the southern African country.

He then had dinner with Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who spent months in China last year for medical treatment.