A former National Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation and an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces, Major General Francis Vib-Sanziri has been appointed as the Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, announced the appointment on Friday, October 13, according to a statement on the UN’s website.
Major General Vib-Sanziri succeeds Major General Jai Shanker Menon of India.
Since joining the Ghanaian Armed Forces in 1985, Major General Francis Vib-Sanziri has served as Director-General of the International Peace Support Operations at the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces since April 2017.
He also served as Assistant Director, Ghana Army Operations (1996-1998), Deputy Head of the Ghana Military Academy (2002-2004), Commanding Officer of an Infantry Battalion (2004-2009), Director for International Peacekeeping Support Operations in 2009 and Army Secretary at the Army Headquarters (2010-2011).
Major General Vib-Sanziri’s peacekeeping experience includes deployments to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 1988 and 1991, United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) in 1993 and 1994 and the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in 2007.
He holds a master’s degree in military art and science from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, in the United States, a post-graduate certificate in public administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography and rural resource development from the University of Ghana.
He is a graduate of the Nigerian Armed Forces Command and General Staff College, Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College and the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.