South Sudan gets new UN force commander
May 29, 2017 (JUBA) – The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has a new force commander, nearly a year after the previous one was sacked for failure to control the situation when violence broke out in the capital, Juba.
Kamanzi, who commands a force with an authorised strength of 17,000 peacekeepers from 55 different countries, will directly report to the head of the mission and is responsible for all military activities in support of the UN mission’s mandate to protect civilians.
The Rwandan, the U.N said, brings to the post more than 28 years of national and international military experience. Before his most recent appointment as the Force Commander of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), he served as army chief of staff in the Rwanda Defence Force (2012-2015).
He previously served as commander of the Rwanda Military Academy (2010-2012) and commanded an infantry brigade (2007-2010). He held the position of Deputy Force Commander in the African Union Mission in Sudan (2006-2007) and also served as a member of Joint Military Commission, Lusaka Peace Process for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1999-2000).
Born in 1964, Kamanzi holds a master’s degree in national security strategy from the National Defense University in Washington, DC, as well as a degree in Agriculture from Makerere University, Uganda. He is also a graduate of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Nigeria and the Army Command College in Nanjing, China.
(ST)