Sudan: Indian appointed new chief of UN Peacekeeping Mission

Lieutenant General Jasbir Singh Lidder of India has been appointed as the new force commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Sudan. Lidder replaces Major General Fazle Elahi Akbar of Bangladesh, who served as Military Adviser to the UN Advance Mission in the Sudan before becoming Force Commander in September 2004.

As of last November UNMIS comprised 4,222 uniformed personnel, including 3,638 troops, 362 military observers, and 222 police, supported by 511 international civilian personnel, 983 local civilians and 67 United Nations Volunteers.

Its authorised strength is at most 10,000 military personnel, including some 750 military observers, 715 police, 1,018 international civilian staff, 2,623 national staff and 214 UNVs.

The Mission was established in March, 2005 to monitor the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed by Sudanese government and Sudan People's Liberation Movement which ended almost two decades of separatist war in the Southern part of the country.

UNMIS also continues to work closely with the African Union Mission in the Sudan that is monitoring the situation in Darfur, where violence and war crimes continue unabated.