Biographical Note

MAJOR GENERAL WOLFGANG JILKE APPOINTED AS FORCE COMMANDER

OF UNITED NATIONS DISENGAGEMENT OBSERVER FORCE (UNDOF)

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Major General Wolfgang Jilke of Austria, as Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), to succeed Lieutenant General Bala Nanda Sharma of Nepal, who relinquished his post on 17 January 2007.

General Jilke was commissioned into the Austrian Army in 1971.  During his career, he has advanced through various operational command and staff appointments at the tactical, operational and strategic levels.  He has also held an instructional appointment as teacher at the Austrian War College between 1983 and 1986.  In 1997, he was a member of the Royal Defence Studies in London and, in 1998-1999, Commander of the Austrian International Peace Support Command.

Since January 2003, General Jilke has represented Austria in the Military Committee of the European Union and in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Military Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  Previously, he was the Chief of the Office of the Austrian Federal Minister of Defence in 2002.  General Jilke has twice served in UNDOF, initially as Company Commander in 1975, and then as Deputy Chief of Staff in 1989-1990.

Born in 1949, General Jilke is married and has two children.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record