UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday announced the appointment of Major General Mehari Zewde Gebremariam of Ethiopia as force commander of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).
Gebremariam succeeds Major General Gebre Adhana Woldezgu of Ethiopia who will complete his assignment on April 23, according to a press note from the UN chief's office.
The secretary-general is grateful for Gebremariam's "tireless dedication, invaluable service and effective leadership of UNISFA," the note said.
Gebremariam "has a distinguished military career with the Ethiopian Armed Forces spanning more than 37 years," most recently as Head of Human Resources Main Department of the Ethiopian National Defense Force. He is also a council member of the Ethiopian Ministry of National Defense since 2007.
Gebremariam holds a Master of Science degree from Greenwich University in the United Kingdom.
Born in 1965, he is married with two children.
UNISFA is a UN peacekeeping force in Abyei, which is contested between the Republic of Sudan and the newly independent Republic of South Sudan. UNISFA was approved on June 27, 2011 by the UN Security Council in its Resolution 1990 after a flareup in the South Kordofan conflict earlier in June 2011. The Ethiopian Army is the largest contributor of personnel, and as of 2018, the only contributor of individual troops.
