New York, United States - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed a Togolese military officer, Maj.-Gen. Gnakoude Berena, as the new Force Commander for the UN Operation in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI). A statement, made available to PANA in New York on Wednesday, said Berena would succeed Maj.-Gen. Abdul Hafiz of Bangladesh, whose tour of duty with the peacekeeping operation ends next week.

'A former chief of army staff in Togo, as well as a special adviser to his country’s President, Berena has also served as a sector commander with the then UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) in 1993-94,' it stated.

The statement noted that the new Force Commander also served in the same role with the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Guinea Bissau in 1998-99.

Pana 17/03/2011