Brigadier General Assoualai Blama, the Deputy Force Commander (DFC) of the MNJTF, visited Headquarters Sector 4 in Diffa today, February 18, 2023. The Head of the African Union Mission Support Team, Mr. Abdou Mahaman, who was joined by other members of the AU-MST staff, Chief J5 Col. Moustapha Ousseini, Chief J9 Col. Oke Idrissou, and other MNJTF officers, paid a visit to the DFC. The purpose of the visit, in addition to recognizing the efforts of the troops in the sector, was to provide little gifts to the families of soldiers who died or were wounded while serving in Operation SHARAN FAGE and Operation Lake Sanity.
The DFC and his entourage were welcomed upon arrival at HQ Sector 4 Diffa by the Governor of Diffa Region, Smaine Younousse, and Commander Sector 4, Colonel Major Mamane Sani Kiaou, according to a statement from Captain Benn Raphael, the Deputy Chief Military Public Affairs Officer.
The DFC said he was in the sector to represent the FC MNJTF Maj Gen AK Ibrahim in his remarks. On behalf of the FC and the entire MNJTF, he expressed sympathy to the sector for the loss of its soldiers during the operations. In all MNJTF operations, he lauded the sector’s troops for their bravery, adding that the MNJTF was justly proud of their achievements. Before beginning to distribute symbolic pay to the beneficiaries, he also praised The soldiers for their unwavering efforts in the war against the BHT in the LCB zone. The Governor, DFC, Sector Commander, and other dignitaries present at the occasion also presented some of the soldiers with the MNJTF Operation LAKE SANITY medal.
The Governor traveled to Baroua with the DFC and his delegation, as well as the Commander Sector 4. Once there, they were welcomed by the community’s mayor and then taken to the location of a water project that was still under construction in Baroua for irrigation farming. The head of AU-MST, Mr. Abdou Mahamane, said during the event that it was simply a provisional transfer before the project was fully finished. The MNJTF funded the project, he continued, after determining what the local population’s basic needs were. Residents of the neighborhood were also given farming equipment. The Governor of Diffa also spoke at the gathering and expressed his gratitude for the MNJTF’s provisional handover of the project and the farming equipment. He also emphasized that women would be the project’s and the farming implements’ primary beneficiaries, promising the MNJTF that he would ensure that the initiative and the instruments efficiently benefited each beneficiary.
The Governor, DFC, and delegation then went to Mohamed Bazoum Primary School and the Integrated Medical Centre, both in Baroua, to present the Baroua Community with educational and medical supplies donated by the MNJTF. Highlights of the tour included giving little gifts to the wounded and killed warriors, decorating medals, distributing farming implements, educational materials, and medical kits, taking group photos, and eating lunch. Since then, the DFC and his group have come back to N’Djamena. The visit went without a hitch.
