Biographical Note

Major General Alberto Asarta Cuevas (Spain) Appointed Head of Mission,

Force Commander of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon

The Secretary-General has decided to appoint Major General Alberto Asarta Cuevas of Spain as Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Major General Asarta Cuevas will succeed Major General Claudio Graziano of Italy, whose tour of duty will end on 28 January 2010.  The Secretary-General is grateful to Major General Graziano for his outstanding service and leadership of UNIFIL over the past three years.

Currently serving as the Adviser to the Chief of Staff of the Spanish Army, Major General Asarta Cuevas will bring to his new position extensive and wide-ranging experience, including significant command expertise and prior experience with United Nations peacekeeping.

Prior to his new assignment, he held important command appointments up to the level of Armoured Brigade Commander.  Most recently, he was UNIFIL Sector East Commander from December 2008 to April 2009.  In 2003, he was appointed Deputy Brigade Commander of the Spanish Brigade in Operation Iraqi Freedom and served in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2001-2002 and in 1997.  In 1991 he served as United Nations Military Observer in the United Nations Observer Group in Central America.

Major General Asarta Cuevas attended the Army Staff College in Spain, and earned a master’s degree in national defence from the Argentine National Defence School.  He also completed military courses in various institutions, including the United States Naval Postgraduate School and the NATO School in Germany.

Born in 1951, he is married and has two children.

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