African Armed ForcesAnalysis & Geopolitics
0

African Military Ranks Comparison: Officer and NCO Equivalents Across Ten Armies, Against NATO OF/OR Codes

African Military Ranks Comparison: Officer and NCO Equivalents Across Ten Armies, Against NATO OF/OR Codes
Advertise with DefenceMENAAnnoncez sur DefenceMENAAnuncie na DefenceMENA

African military ranks look alike on shoulder boards and mean different things in practice: a French-tradition “général de brigade” wears two stars where a US brigadier general wears one, and an Arabic “amid” sits at the same NATO level as both. This African military ranks comparison lines up the officer and NCO ladders of ten armies – Mali, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia – against the NATO OF/OR codes, and flags every equivalence that sources disagree on.

Quick answer

African armies follow three naming traditions: British (Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia in English), French (Mali, Senegal, Morocco) and Arabic (Egypt, Sudan, Algeria). In all of them a brigadier or général de brigade is NATO OF-6 and a full general OF-9. Field marshal or its equivalent exists on paper in Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria and, since 8 January 2022, Ethiopia (Armed Forces Act 2007; Fana, 2022).

Data as of 27 October 2026. Figures are open-source estimates; see “A note on the numbers”.

The three traditions behind African military ranks

British. Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa use the British ladder almost word for word: Private to General, with Warrant Officer classes above the sergeants. South Africa’s Defence Force rank system “is largely based on the British system”; its Air Force shares the Army rank titles, and in September 2003 the army’s Brigadier was renamed Brigadier General. Kenya keeps the British Brigadier. Ethiopia’s Army uses English-language general titles but Amharic names (Shalek’a, Shamibel) from major to second lieutenant.

French. Mali, Senegal and Morocco’s officer corps use the French ladder: Sous-lieutenant to Général d’armée, with Adjudant-chef as the top of the sergeants. Mali’s statute, the Ordonnance n°2023-015/PT-RM of 21 March 2023, lists the grades officially, including the Mali-specific Colonel-major, a senior colonel grade that its salary grid places just below Général de brigade. Algeria occupies a middle position: its official rank list gives each Arabic title with a French equivalent.

Arabic (and Soviet influence). Egypt, Sudan and Algeria use Arabic titles, several of Ottoman-era origin – Mushir, Fariq awwal, Fariq, Liwa, Amid, Aqid – that Egypt formalised in 1958 after the 1952 revolution. The label “Arabic-Soviet” is sometimes used because these armies bought Soviet equipment and drew on Soviet doctrine; the rank titles themselves are Arabic, and we use “Arabic” for the naming system and keep Soviet influence as background, not as a rank source. Sudan sits in two traditions at once: a British-shaped ladder with Arabic titles. See our Sudan army ranks page for the full SAF tables.

Officer equivalence table: British tradition

British-tradition officer ranks in Africa (land forces), 2026
NATO code Nigeria South Africa Kenya Ethiopia (ENDF)
OF-10 Field Marshal (honorary, see disputed list) None in current list None Field Marshal (since 8 January 2022)
OF-9 General General General General
OF-8 Lieutenant General Lieutenant General Lieutenant General Lieutenant General
OF-7 Major General Major General Major General Major General
OF-6 Brigadier General Brigadier General (since September 2003) Brigadier Brigadier General
OF-5 Colonel Colonel Colonel Colonel
OF-4 Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant Colonel
OF-3 Major Major Major Shalek’a
OF-2 Captain Captain Captain Shamibel
OF-1 Lieutenant; Second Lieutenant Lieutenant; Second Lieutenant Lieutenant; Second Lieutenant Yemeto alek’a; Mikitil yemeto alek’a

Navy and air force officer titles differ (a South African rear admiral, a Nigerian air vice-marshal) and are outside this table. Kenya’s President is Commander-in-Chief, which is an office, not an army rank.

Officer equivalence table: French tradition

French-tradition officer ranks in Africa (land forces), 2026
NATO code Mali (FAMa, official statute) Senegal Algeria (French names) Morocco
OF-10 None None listed None Maréchal (listed; disputed)
OF-9 Général d’armée None listed (disputed) Général d’armée Général d’armée (listed; disputed)
OF-8 Général de corps d’armée Général de corps d’armée Général de corps d’armée Général de corps d’armée
OF-7 Général de division Général de division Général-major Général de division
OF-6 Général de brigade Général de brigade Général Général de brigade
OF-5 (senior) Colonel-major None listed None Colonel-major
OF-5 Colonel Colonel Colonel Colonel
OF-4 Lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant-colonel
OF-3 Commandant (or Chef de bataillon / d’escadron) Commandant Commandant Commandant
OF-2 Capitaine Capitaine Capitaine Capitaine
OF-1 Lieutenant; Sous-lieutenant Lieutenant; Sous-lieutenant Lieutenant; Sous-lieutenant Lieutenant; Sous-lieutenant

Mali’s column is the official ladder in the 2023 statute (article 5); the Senegal, Algeria and Morocco columns come from reference rank tables, so they are less firm. Algeria is the odd one out: its “Général” is the lowest general grade (OF-6) and its “Général-major” the next (OF-7), so a French reader who sees “général” should not assume a full general. For Mali’s own ladder, grades and holders see Mali army ranks.

Officer equivalence table: Arabic tradition

Arabic-tradition officer ranks in Africa (army), 2026
NATO code Egypt Sudan Algeria
OF-10 مشير Mushir مشير Mushir None listed
OF-9 فريق أول Fariq awwal فريق أول Fariq awwal فريق أول Fariq awwal
OF-8 فريق Fariq فريق Fariq فريق Fariq
OF-7 لواء Liwa لواء Liwa لواء Liwa
OF-6 عميد Amid عميد Amid عميد Amid
OF-5 عقيد Aqid عقيد Aqid عقيد Aqid
OF-4 مقدم Muqaddam مقدم Muqaddam مقدم Muqaddam
OF-3 رائد Ra’id رائد Ra’id رائد Ra’id
OF-2 نقيب Naqib نقيب Naqib نقيب Naqib
OF-1 ملازم أول Mulazim awwal; ملازم Mulazim ملازم أول Mulazim awwal; ملازم Mulazim ملازم أول Mulazim awwal; ملازم Mulazim

Morocco is not in this table on purpose. Moroccan Arabic-language press uses transliterated French titles, for example الجنرال دو كور دارمي for a général de corps d’armée (Hespress, 17 September 2021), rather than the Fariq-Liwa series, and we could not verify Arabic forms for the lower grades. Algeria’s official list pairs each Arabic title with the French one in the previous table, so the Algeria columns above are two views of the same ladder. Sudan’s page notes the official English wording of its ladder: the Armed Forces Act 2007 translates Fariq awwal as “First Lieutenant-General”.

NCOs and soldiers: grouping, not one-to-one codes

NATO OR codes are the hardest part of any cross-country table, because each army counts warrant officers and sergeants differently. The table below therefore groups grades instead of pretending to give exact OR numbers.

Warrant, NCO and soldier grades by tradition
Group British (Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya) French (Mali, official) Arabic (Egypt, Sudan, Algeria)
Warrant / senior NCO (about OR-7 to OR-9) Warrant Officer classes 1 and 2 (Kenya, South Africa); Army Warrant Officer, Master Warrant Officer, Warrant Officer (Nigeria) Adjudant-chef major; Adjudant-chef; Adjudant Mosa’id awwal and Mosa’id (Egypt, Algeria); Mosa’id (Sudan)
Senior sergeants (about OR-5 to OR-7) Staff Sergeant; Sergeant (Kenya: Senior Sergeant) Sergent-chef; Sergent Raqib awwal; Raqib
Junior NCOs (about OR-3 to OR-4) Corporal; Lance Corporal Caporal-chef; Caporal ‘Arif (Egypt, Sudan); Earif awwal and Earif (Algeria); Wakil ‘arif (Sudan)
Soldier (OR-1 to OR-2) Private Soldat Jundi

South Africa added a further ladder of warrant ranks in June 2008 (Senior Warrant Officer up to Master Chief Warrant Officer), so its top NCO is far above a Kenyan warrant officer class 1. In Mali’s statute the top sergeant grade is Adjudant-chef major; some reference tables show the French “Major” there instead.

How many stars is a general?

Star counts mislead across traditions. In French practice a général de brigade wears two stars, a général de division three, a général de corps d’armée four and a général d’armée five, yet on the NATO scale they are OF-6, OF-7, OF-8 and OF-9: a French five-star général d’armée is equivalent to what other NATO armies mark with four stars. Francophone African armies largely follow the French pattern, but we have not verified each country’s insignia plate. British-pattern armies in Africa (Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa) use crowns, crossed batons and country emblems rather than a simple star count, and Nigerian general-officer insignia are described differently by different sources, so we do not give star numbers for them. Arabic-tradition armies such as Egypt and Sudan do not publish a star convention; their ranks are defined by title.

Who has a field marshal, maréchal or général d’armée?

  • Egypt: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was promoted to Field Marshal (Mushir) on 27 January 2014, according to Ahram Online and Associated Press reports.
  • Ethiopia: General Birhanu Jula received the newly created rank of Field Marshal on 8 January 2022, the first Ethiopian officer to hold it (Fana Broadcasting). The same ceremony promoted 4 officers to General, 14 to Lieutenant General, 24 to Major General and 58 to Brigadier General.
  • Sudan: Mushir is the top grade in the army list; the Armed Forces Act 2007 reserves it for a military President or the Commander-in-Chief. An AFP report carried by Sudan Tribune (date not verified) said Omar al-Bashir had been promoted field marshal; no current holder is verified.
  • Nigeria: Field Marshal appears at the top of the rank list but is described by secondary sources as honorary and reserved for the President as Commander-in-Chief; we found no verified holder.
  • Mali: Général d’armée is the highest grade in the 2023 statute and there is no maréchal; holders are tracked on Mali army ranks.
  • Morocco: A maréchal grade is listed by reference works, but a December 2017 Asharq Al-Awsat report called général de corps d’armée the highest military rank officially recognised so far, and in 2021 Hespress described the Inspector General of the Royal Armed Forces as a général de corps d’armée. Treat any higher grade as unverified.
  • South Africa and Kenya: both stop at General for serving officers; South Africa’s Union Defence Force list included Field Marshal in the 1928–53 era only.

Where equivalences are disputed

  • Fariq awwal: “General” in news agencies, “First Lieutenant-General” in the Sudan Armed Forces Act 2007 translation. OF-9 is our equivalence by position.
  • Amid: Brigadier in Sudan’s Act; Algeria’s official list pairs it with the French “Général”. Both are OF-6, but the French word invites misreading.
  • Colonel-major: not a NATO grade; placed here as a senior OF-5 because Mali’s own grid ranks it below Général de brigade.
  • Morocco’s upper ladder: Maréchal and Général d’armée listed in reference works but not confirmed by the Moroccan press examples we found.
  • Senegal’s Général d’armée: the reference table cites a 2001 Ministry document that begins at Général de corps d’armée; later changes are not verified.
  • NCO codes: shown as ranges, not one-to-one numbers.

African military ranks: short answers

What is the highest rank in an African army?

Field marshal (Mushir) or its equivalent, but it is rare: it exists in Egypt and Sudan, was created in Ethiopia in 2022, and is honorary in Nigeria. Most African armies top out at General or Général d’armée.

Is a French général de brigade the same as a brigadier general?

Yes at NATO level (OF-6), although the French insignia has two stars and a US brigadier general has one.

What is the Arabic for brigadier?

Amid (عميد) in Egypt, Sudan and Algeria. It sits between Liwa (major general) and Aqid (colonel).

For the armies behind these ranks, see Africa’s strongest militaries, which African country has the biggest army, the country profiles for Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, and the head-to-head Egypt vs Ethiopia.

A note on the numbers

This page contains no headcounts or budget figures. Official: Mali’s ladder (Journal Officiel, 24 March 2023), the Sudan English rank titles (Armed Forces Act 2007) and the Ethiopian promotion counts (Fana, 8 January 2022). Taken from reference rank tables that cite ministry pages we did not open directly: the Egypt, Algeria, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Morocco ladders and all Amharic titles. Estimated: every NATO OF/OR code, since none of these countries publishes its own NATO mapping. Contradicted: Morocco’s top grade, Nigeria’s field marshal status, and the translation of Fariq awwal. Not verified: Senegal’s current top grade, Kenya’s count of four-star officers, insignia descriptions for any country, and Arabic forms for Moroccan junior grades. The page covers land forces; naval and air force titles differ.

Sources

Advertise with DefenceMENAAnnoncez sur DefenceMENAAnuncie na DefenceMENA

Topics :

African armed forcesEgyptEthiopiaField marshalMaliMilitary ranksNATO OF codesNigeriaRank equivalenceSudan
Author Profile
Adrian Cole Administrator All articles

Africa defence and security correspondent at DefenceMENA, covering procurement, defence industry and armed forces across the continent.

No social media or contact information is available for the user.

510 Post

Related coverage