UN Appoints New Chief Of Staff Of UNTSO

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has informed the Security Council of his intention to appoint Major-General Ian Campbell Gordon of Australia as Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), Annan’s spokesman confirmed today.

Maj-Gen. Gordon will succeed Maj-Gen. Clive Lilley of New Zealand, who will relinquish his post at the end of the month. Maj-Gen. Lilley was appointed UNTSO’s Chief of Staff on October 2004 for a two-year term.

Since December 2001, Maj-Gen. Lilley has held two key appointments in Headquarters New Zealand Defence Force; first as the Deputy Chief of Defence Force and then as Assistant Chief of Defence Force Strategic Commitments and Intelligence. Previously, he was, in 1997, the Commander of the New Zealand, Australian and South Pacific military forces that deployed to Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (Operation Bel Isi). In 1994, he served in UNOSOM II (United Nations Operation in Somalia II) as Chief of the Military Information Cell.

Maj-Gen. Gordon served as Deputy Force Commander with the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) from 2001-2002 and, 10 years before, with the UN Mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Set up in 1948 and headquartered in Jerusalem, UNTSO is the first peacekeeping operation established by the United Nations. UNTSO military observers remain in the Middle East to monitor ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated incidents from escalating and assist other UN peacekeeping operations in the region.

© Scoop Media