Chief of the Defence Staff (Ivory Coast)

The Chief of the Defence Staff (French: Chef d'état-major des armées—CEMA) is the professional head of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Ivory Coast. The Chief of the Defence Staff is appointed by the President of Ivory Coast, who is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces according to the Constitution.

Chief of the Defence Staff of Ivory Coast
Chef d'état-major des armées de la Côte d'Ivoire
Coat of arms of Ivory Coast
Incumbent Army corps general Lassina Doumbia [fr] since 28 December 2018
Armed Forces
Type	Chief of staff
Status	Senior-most officer
Abbreviation	CEMA
Appointer	President of Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara
Term length	Not fixed
Inaugural holder	Army corps general Thomas d'Aquin Ouattara [fr]
Formation	1960

The current Chief of the Defence Staff is Army corps general Lassina Doumbia [fr], since 28 December 2018.^[1]

List of chiefs of the defence staff

No.	Portrait	Chief of the Defence Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Ref.
1		Ouattara, ThomasArmy corps general Thomas d'Aquin Ouattara [fr] (1916–1990)	1960	1974	13–14 years	Army	[2]
2		Coulibaly, IbrahimaArmy corps general Ibrahima Coulibaly	1974	1979	4–5 years	Army	–
3		Baroan, BertinDivisional general Bertin Zézé Baroan	1979	November 1987	7–8 years	Army	[2]
4		Ory, FélixBrigadier general Félix Ory	November 1987	1990	2–3 years	Army	[2]
5		Guéï, RobertBrigadier general Robert Guéï (1941–2002) [a]	1990	1995	4–5 years	Army	–
6		Timité, LassanaVice admiral Lassana Timité	1995	1999	3–4 years	Navy	–
7		Diabagaté, SoumaïlaBrigadier general Soumaïla Diabagaté	1999	2000	0–1 years	Army	–
8		Doué, MathiasDivisional general Mathias Doué [fr] (1946–2017) [b]	2000	2004	3–4 years	Army	–
9		Mangou, PhilippeArmy corps general Philippe Mangou (born 1952) [c]	2004	2011	6–7 years	Army	[3]
10		Bakayoko, SoumailaArmy corps general Soumaila Bakayoko [fr] (born 1953) [d]	7 July 2011	9 January 2017	5 years, 182 days	Army	[4]
11		Touré, SékouArmy corps general Sékou Touré [fr] (born 1956)	9 January 2017	28 December 2018	1 year, 353 days	Army	[5]
12		Doumbia, LassinaArmy corps general Lassina Doumbia [fr]	28 December 2018	Incumbent	6 years, 230 days	Army	[1]

Notes

1. Later staged the 1999 Ivorian coup d'état, and served as head of state from 1999 until 2000.
2. Removed following the 2004 French–Ivorian clashes.
3. Removed following the Second Ivorian Civil War.
4. Previously served as the Chief of Staff of the rebel FNCI. Dismissed following the 2017 Ivory Coast mutinies.

See also

• Armed Forces of the Republic of Ivory Coast