Guinea military chief, Gen. Diallo killed in plane crash in Liberia

General Souleymane Kelefa Diallo

(Reuters) – The head of Guinea’s armed forces, was killed on Monday when the aircraft carrying him and five other top Guinean military officials crashed close to the Liberian capital Monrovia.

General Souleymane Kelefa Diallo, who was on a security mission to Liberia, was appointed by Guinea President Alpha Conde after the latter won elections in 2010 in the world’s top bauxite producer.

Diallo was charged with reforming the restive army in the West African state.

Investigators and United Nations peacekeepers picked through the charred wreckage of the aircraft amid a grove of palm trees near Charlesville, some 40 km (25 miles) southeast of the Liberian capital Monrovia. There were no survivors.

“This accident cost the life of six members of the delegation, including General Souleymane Kelefa Diallo, head of the armed forces, and five members of the crew,” Guinea’s Defence Minister Abdoul Kabele Camara said in a statement.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has visited the crash site in the company of Guinea’s ambassador to Liberia.

Liberia’s Defence Minister Brownie Samukai said the cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Rescue crews retrieved the plane’s flight recorder – its so-called black box – from the wreckage, however, and Liberian authorities said they have it examined in order to determine what may have caused the fatal crash.

General Diallo was one of the main architects of the reform of Guinea’s powerful military, which seized power in the former French colony in 2008. Some 4,000 soldiers were forced to retire under a scheme to slim the bloated armed forces.