He was far from being the most high-profile officer in the Forces Armées Nigériennes (FAN), but on 31 July Lieutenant Colonel Souleymane Balla-Arabé was appointed by decree by President Abdourahamane Tchiani as head of the much-feared external intelligence agency, the Direction Générale de la Documentation et de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGDSE). He replaced former police commissioner Rabiou Daddy Gaoh, aka "Jet Lee", who was close to Mohamed Bazoum, the president ousted in
