THE HAGUE, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Klaas Dijkhoff has taken over from the departed Dutch Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis for the remainder of the term of the outgoing government, the Netherlands Government Information Service (RVD) announced on Wednesday.
Since March 2015, the 36-year-old Dijkhoff was the State Secretary for Security and Justice in the government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Previously, he was a member of the House of Representatives for five years on behalf of the rightist liberal party VVD.
On Tuesday night, the 44-year-old Hennis resigned after a report on the death of two Dutch soldiers during a United Nations mission in Mali showed the Ministry had been negligent. During a drill practice on July 6, 2016, in Kidal, Mali, a mortar set off a grenade, killing two soldiers and seriously wounding another.
According to the report by the Safety Board, which conducted the investigation, the Ministry of Defense had failed to secure the safety of the Dutch soldiers and provide good medical facilities. Hennis announced her decision to resign at the end of the parliamentary debate in The Hague prompted by the report.
The departure comes just before the end of the current outgoing government and the expected announcement of a new government coalition deal, possibly next week. The question now is if Hennis will return as minister in a new cabinet with Hennis's VVD, the Christian Democrats, the Democrats and the Christian Union.
