MAJOR-GENERAL ALAIN PELLEGRINI APPOINTED FORCE COMMANDER OF UNITED NATIONS INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON (UNIFIL)

MAJOR-GENERAL ALAIN PELLEGRINI APPOINTED FORCE COMMANDER

OF UNITED NATIONS INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON (UNIFIL)

Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced today the appointment of Major-General Alain Pellegrini of France as Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) to succeed Major-General Lalit Mohan Tewari who relinquishes his post on 17 February 2004.

General Pellegrini enlisted as a cadet in the French Military Academy of Saint-Cyr in 1966.  He is a graduate of the French Military Staff College and of the French Command and General Staff College of Paris (France).  He has held various military appointments in his country and abroad, mostly in Africa and the Middle East, including command of a French Marine Regiment in Fréjus (France).  He served also as adviser to the Defence Minister of Benin in Cotonou and as the Defense Attaché at the French Embassy in Beirut (Lebanon).  In 1995-1996, he served with the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNPROFOR) and IFOR in Sarajevo and Mostar.  In 2000, as a Colonel, he was the head of the Africa and Middle East Division at the Military Intelligence Directorate in Paris.  Since July 2001, General Pellegrini is the special adviser of the French Chief of Defence Staff on issues related to Africa and the Middle East.

Born in La Flèche (France) on 12 August 1946, General Pellegrini is married to Maryse and they have a son, Marc.

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