THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Netherlands’ junior justice minister is to become the country’s new defense minister after the resignation of Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, who quit following a highly critical report into the deaths of two Dutch peacekeepers during a training exercise in 2016.
The government announced Wednesday that Klaas Dijkhoff will lead the Defence Ministry. The appointment comes as talks to form a new four-party ruling coalition continue following elections in March.
Hennis-Plasschaert and the country’s military commander, Gen. Tom Middendorp, resigned late Tuesday after an independent report criticized the Defence Ministry for “serious shortcomings” in its care for troops sent on a peacekeeping mission to Mali.
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The report said that the two soldiers were killed instantly when a mortar shell exploded prematurely during a training exercise near a Dutch military base in Kidal, Mali. The other man was injured by shrapnel.
It criticized the Defence Ministry for hastily buying the mortar shells in 2006 without carrying out necessary checks, believing that American forces used them and must have tested their safety. However, the sale contract made clear that was not the case and that U.S. authorities did not guarantee the quality and security of the ammunition, the report said.
It added that the shells have “weak points” in their design, which allow moisture to seep in. That moisture, combined with hot temperatures in Mali, made explosives in the detonators unstable.
Mike Corder of The Associated Press contributed to this report.
