Sadio Camara

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Confirmed killed April 26, 2026; the car bomb also killed his wife and two granddaughters. State funeral held April 30 at the Military Engineering Parade Ground in Bamako, attended by President Goïta and the defence ministers of Niger and Burkina Faso.

President Assimi Goïta assumed the defence portfolio on May 4 by presidential decree, 11 days after FLA rebels and JNIM militants struck five Malian cities on April 25, 2026. His predecessor Sadio Camara was killed in a car-bomb assassination a week earlier; Goïta named Army Chief of Staff General Oumar Diarra as minister delegate.

Updated May 31