SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS NEW COMMANDER FOR UN INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON

Press Release
SG/A/649

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS NEW COMMANDER FOR UN INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Major-General Jioje Konousi Konrote of Fiji to be Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), with effect from 1 October 1997. He will succeed Major-General Stanislaw Franciszek Wozniak of Poland, who has served as Commander since April 1995. The Secretary-General paid tribute to Major- General Wozniak for his distinguished service in UNIFIL.

Major-General Konrote, who has served in the Fijian armed forces since 1966, received his military training in New Zealand and Australia and is a graduate of the Australian College of Defence and Strategic Studies. He has held several staff and command positions in Fiji, and was seconded to the New Zealand Army, as well as to British Forces in Hong Kong. He is currently Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.

Major-General Konrote has had previous experience with UNIFIL, where he served five times, as Company Commander (1978, 1980-1981), Senior Plans Officer at UNIFIL Headquarters (1983-1984), Battalion Commander (1986-1987), and Deputy Force Commander (1990-1991).

Born in 1947, he is married with two children.

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