newly elected President Adama Barrow, an action legally justified by UN resolution 2337. The Army () is the leading force within the Senegalese armed forces and provides the chief of staff and the . Army Since independence the army has gone through a large number of reorganisations. The army's heritage includes the Tirailleurs sénégalais. In 1978, Senegal dispatched a battalion to the Inter-African Force in Zaire, in the aftermath of the Shaba II fighting. The Senegalese contingent was under the command of Colonel Osmane Ndoye. The Senegalese force comprised a parachute battalion from Thiaroye. The Army currently consists of two divisions, the Operations Division and the Logistic Division. The IISS estimated in 2012 that the Army had a strength of 11,900 soldiers, three armoured battalions the 22nd, 24th, and 25th (at Bignona) and the 26th at Kolda; there are six infantry battalions numbered 1st to 6th. 3rd Battalion may have been at Kaolack with 4th at Tambacounda at one point. Also reported is the 12th Battalion of the 2nd Military Zone at Saint Louis (Dakhar Bango), along with the Prytanée militaire de Saint-Louis, a military secondary school. Although the Senegalese Air Force is geared towards supporting it, the army may have previously maintained its own very small aviation branch, called the "" (like the French army's equivalent), which may have counted up to five light helicopters and two SA330 Puma transport helicopters. The IISS Military Balance 2012 does not list any helicopters in army service. National Gendarmerie The Gendarmerie is a military force which provides policing and security. It includes a Territorial Gendarmerie with general policing duties, and a Mobile Gendarmerie for special tasks and serious public disorder. The Senegalese gendarmerie evolved out of a French colonial Spahi detachment sent to Senegal in 1845. This detachment (which became today's Red Guard of Senegal) was the cadre around which the "Colonial Gendarmerie" was formed. On independence this became the National Gendarmerie. The commander is General Abdoulaye Fall (a different person from the current Armed Forces Chief of Staff of the same name), whose rank is divisional general, and whose full job title is "High Commander of the Gendarmerie and Director of Military Justice". Navy The navy (), also known as the , is of small size and is commanded by a ship-of-the-line captain. It is responsible for securing Senegal's Atlantic coastline which is strategically located on the extreme west of the