Guterres appoints Indian as head of UN Mission

United Nations, Sep 13 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Lieutenant General (retired) Abhijit Guha of India as the Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) and Head of the UN Mission in support of the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA).

An official statement said Guterres made the announcement on Thursday.

Guha succeeds Lieutenant General Michael Lollesgaard, who served as RCC Chair and Head of UNMHA from January 31 to July 31, 2019.

"The Secretary-General is grateful for General Lollesgaard's dedicated and exemplary service," the UN statement said.

Guha has 39 years of national and international military experience, according to the statement.

"From 2009-2013, he served as the Deputy Military Adviser and the Military Adviser a.i. within the Office of Military Affairs of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, while also establishing the Office of Peacekeeping and Strategic Partnerships in 2013," it said.

Previously, he also held a number of significant command, staff and instructional appointments within the Indian Army including leadership of an Infantry Brigade and Infantry Division, and of the Mumbai Area.

Guha served as a Military Observer as part of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia during 1992-3.

After his retirement from the Indian Army in 2013, Guha served on the Expert Panel on Technology and Innovation in UN Peacekeeping (2014) and the High Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (2015). He has also led a number of UN investigations and boards of inquiry in Africa and the Middle East.