Biographical Note

Secretary-General intends to appoint lieutenant general a.t.m. zahirul alam

of bangladesh force commander of United Nations Mission in Liberia

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has informed the Security Council of his intention to appoint Lieutenant General A.T.M. Zahirul Alam of Bangladesh Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

Lieutenant General Alam will replace Lieutenant General Chikadibia Obiakor of Nigeria.  The Secretary-General is grateful to Lieutenant General Obiakor for his exemplary and highly professional service in UNMIL.

Lieutenant General Alam has had an extensive and distinguished military career with the Bangladesh Army, which he joined in 1975.  His long experience includes service with the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM), where he commanded a mechanized infantry battalion between November 1994 and January 1996.  From 1998 to 2000, he served as Director, Military Training, at the Army headquarters.  In the period 2000 to 2001 and 2001 to 2003, he served as Division Commander at the rank of Major General.  He is currently the Commandant of the National Defence College, which he joined in 2004.

Lieutenant General Alam was born in 1952 in Boalkhali.  He holds a master’s degree in war studies from King’s College, London, and has completed a one-year course at the Royal College of Defence Studies in the United Kingdom.  He is married and has two children.

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For information media • not an official record