Chief of the General Staff (Senegal)

Chief of the General Staff
Chefs d'État-Major général des armées
Incumbent Mbaye Cissé since 6 April 2023
Armed Forces of Senegal
Style	Sir
Reports to	Minister of Defense
Residence	Dakar
Seat	Dakar
Appointer	President of Senegal
Term length	No fixed length
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Senegal
Precursor	Chief of Staff of the Federation of Mali
Formation	1960
First holder	Amadou Fall
Website	Official website

The Chief of the Defense Staff (French: Chefs d'État-Major général des armées) is the professional head of the Armed Forces of Senegal. He/she is responsible for the administration and the operational control of the military of Senegal. The current chief is General of Air Corps Mbaye Cissé.

Duties

He is responsible for the preparation of military plans and operations:

• General Staff
• Directorate of Military Security;
• Department of Information and Public Relations

He directly exercises his authority over:

• Chief of the Army Staff
• Chief of Staff of the Navy
• Chief of Staff of the Air Force
• Military zone commanders

The directors of the specialized services departments placed for employment with him are:

• Engineering Management
• Material Department (DIRMAT)
• Direction of Transmissions (DIRTRANS);
• Stewardship Department (DIRINT);
• Armed Forces Health Directorate (DSA)

List

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Ref.
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		General Amadou Fall	1960	1960	0 years	[1][2]
2		Colonel Abdoulaye Soumaré [fr] (1905–1964)	1960	19 August 1960	0 years	[2]
3		Colonel Idrissa Fall [fr] (born 1932)	20 August 1960	1962	1–2 years	[2]
4		Major general Jean Alfred Diallo [fr] (1911–2006)	17 December 1962	30 June 1972	9 years, 196 days	[2]
(3)		Colonel Idrissa Fall [fr] (born 1932)	1 July 1972	30 June 1984	11 years, 365 days	[2]
5		General Joseph Louis Tavarez de Souza	1 July 1984	31 May 1988	3 years, 335 days	[2]
6		General of air corps Mamadou Mansour Seck [fr]	31 May 1988	30 June 1993	5 years, 30 days	[2]
7		General Mouhamadou Lamine Keita [fr]	30 June 1993	30 June 1996	3 years	[2]
8		General of the army Lamine Cissé [fr] (1939–2019)	1 July 1996	31 December 1997	1 year, 183 days	[2]
9		Major general Mamadou Seck [fr]	1 January 1998	30 April 2000	2 years, 120 days	[2]
10		Lieutenant general Babacar Gaye (born 1951)	1 May 2000	12 August 2003	3 years, 103 days	[2]
11		Lieutenant general Papa Khalilou Fall [fr] (born 1947)	12 August 2003	31 May 2006	2 years, 292 days	[2]
12		Lieutenant general Abdoulaye Fall [fr] (born 1952)	1 June 2006	30 October 2012	6 years, 151 days	[2]
13		General Mamadou Sow (born 1956)	30 October 2012	31 December 2016	4 years, 62 days	[2]
14		General Cheikh Gueye [fr] (born 1960)	1 January 2017	31 December 2019	3 years, 364 days	[2]
15		General of air corps Birame Diop	1 January 2020	1 April 2021	1 year, 90 days	[2][3]
16		Army corps general Cheikh Wade	1 April 2021	6 April 2023	2 years, 5 days	[2][4]
17		General of air corps Mbaye Cissé	6 April 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 257 days	[5]

References

1. Gaye, Khalifa Ababacar. "AUJOURD'HUI : 12 avril 1963, le général Amadou Fall est radié de l'armée pour sa proximité avec Mamadou Dia". Senenews - Actualité Politique, Économie, Sport au Sénégal (in French). Retrieved 7 February 2021.
2. "Anciens CEMGA". Etat-Major Général des Armées (in French). Retrieved 30 November 2024.
3. "SENEGAL : New chief of staff Birame Diop to give air force a lift - 04/12/2019 - West Africa Newsletter". Africa Intelligence. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
4. Faye, Ayoba (1 April 2021). "Installation du nouveau CEMGA Cheikh Wade: un Commando prend la tête des "Jambaars"". pressafrik.com (in French). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
5. "Sénégal: le général Mbaye Cissé nouveau chef d'état-major des armées". RFI (in French). 7 April 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.