Burkina Faso: 28-year-old French non-commissioned officer of the Barkhane force found dead

The Chief of the Land Staff expressed his “deep sadness”. A 28-year-old French non-commissioned officer of the Barkhane force has died in Burkina Faso, the army ministry announced in a statement Monday morning.

A member of the 54th Haguenau Signal Regiment since 2015, Chief Sergeant Morgan Henry "was discovered in his camp on Sunday", without specifying the causes of his death. "A gendarmerie investigation, led by the provost, was carried out to establish the circumstances of his death," said the Ministry of the Armed Forces.

Deep sadness at the announcement of the death of Chief Sergeant Morgan HENRY, engaged on #Barkhane.

I assure his family and relatives, as well as his comrades of # 54RT all my support and testify to them the fraternity of @ weaponedland. pic.twitter.com/L0lUOnoRGL

Several times decorated and "animated by a remarkable state of mind", Morgan Henry, originally from Seine-Maritime, had engaged for the first time in the context of Operation Barkhane between May and September 2016 before participating in the following year in Operation Chammal, Iraq. Promoted to Staff Sergeant in October 2017, he returned to Iraq twice, from November 2017 to March 2018 and from December 2018 to March 2019.

Morgan Henry had been deployed in Burkina Faso since December as part of Operation Barkhane, which has mobilized around several thousand soldiers for six years in several countries in the Sahel to fight the various jihadist groups. At the beginning of February, the Minister of the Armies Florence Parly announced the deployment of 600 additional soldiers, thus bringing the strength to 5,100 men.