Ghanaian named head of UN's India-Pakistan observer mission

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Maj. Gen. Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana as chief military observer and head of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).

Maj. Gen. Sakyi succeeds Maj. Gen. Young-Bum Choi of South Korea, who completed his two-year assignment June 16, 2014, Xinhua reported citing a statement issued by the UN Information Centre in Accra Wednesday.

With more than 35 years of military command and staff experience at national and international levels, Maj.Gen. Sakyi served most recently as force commander for the UN mission in South Sudan.

He has held command and staff positions in the Ghana Armed Forces, including assistant commandant of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Junior Division, and commander of the Army Combat Training School.

His peacekeeping experience includes Abidjan sector commander of the UN operation in Cote d'Ivoire from 2008 to 2009 and commander of the Ghana contingent in four UN and two Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) peacekeeping operations.

According to the Security Council mandate given in Resolution 307 of 1971, UNMOGIP observes and reports on cease-fire violations along and across the Line of Control and the working boundary between the South Asian neighbours in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as on developments that could lead to cease-fire violations.

UNMOGIP currently comprises 40 military observers and a number of civilian staff members.