The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Sudan, Ashraf Qazi, will step down from his post at the end of February 2010, a press release announced.
UN chief appoints Indian army commander top Sudan envoy
Report from Addis Ababa - Pana, Tuesday, January 19, 2010:
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has appointed a high-ranking Indian military official, Jasbir Singh Lidder, to a top political position in Sudan, where he would head the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), PANA reported Monday.- - -
UNMIS is overseeing the implementation of North-South peace accord in Sudan.
The top Indian military officer, who has brokered several agreements in Sudan's former trouble spots in the South, would become the UN Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative.
He would deputize another Asian diplomat, Ashraf Qazi, who is the current UN Special Envoy to Sudan.
Qazi is a Pakistani national.
The newly-appointed Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs for Sudan, Lidder of India, arrived in Khartoum Sunday to assume his responsibilities with UNMIS, a statement by the UN Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said Sunday.
"Lidder's appointment to head the mission's substantive sections was announced last December by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon," the UN statement said , adding that "Lidder brings to the position extensive experience on the ground in Sudan, in addition to a long and distinguished career with the Indian military, serving most recently as Commandant of an elite infantry school."
Prior to that, he served for more than two years as Force Commander of the United Nations Mission to the Sudan (UNMIS), where he facilitated the relationship between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
The two different armies fought each other for 21 years before a 5 January Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) was signed between the Southern Sudan and the Northern Sudan.
Lidder also assisted in conflict-resolution activities and the protection of civilians and played a major role in the transition from the African Union Mission to the Sudan (AMIS) to the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), the force commanders said.
In the mid-1990s, he served as Chief of Staff in the military component of the United Nations Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ).
During his military service, Lidder held a number of important operational, command and staff positions, including Additional Director General of Military Operations in the Indian Army, General Commanding Officer of a division and Brigade Commander.
Lidder attended the National Defence Academy, as well as the Army War College, in India.
He has a master degree in philosophy in defence studies and management and another in defence and strategic studies.
Born in India in 1949, he is married and has two children.
The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Sudan, Ashraf Qazi, will step down from his post at the end of February 2010, a press release announced
Source: Sudan Tribune, Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - UN envoy to quit Sudan next February.
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