Biographical Note

Secretary-General Appoints Major General Jean Bosco Kazura of Rwanda Commander

of United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Major General Jean Bosco Kazura of Rwanda as the Force Commander for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Major General Kazura is to assume command on 1 July 2013, when, in accordance with Security Council resolution 2100 of 25 April 2013, and subject to review by the Council, the transfer of authority is to take place from the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) to MINUSMA.

With more than 24 years of national and international military experience, as well as command and staff experience, Major General Kazura was, until his latest appointment, the Commandant of the Rwandan Defence Forces Combat Training Centre, a position he took up in December 2011.

From October 2010, Major General Kazura was the Principal Staff Officer (J3) at the Rwandan Defence Force Headquarters in Kigali.  He previously held brigade- and division-level commands (1998-2003), following which he served as Deputy Force Commander and Chief Military Observer of the African Union Mission in Sudan.  He has also held staff positions at formation-level headquarters, and served as Senior Military and Security Adviser to President Paul Kagame (2009-2010).

Major General Kazura, who has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and the social sciences as well as a diploma in law, is a graduate of the Command and Staff College in Lusaka, Zambia (1998), and of the Nigerian War College, Abuja (2001).

Born in Rwanda in 1963, he is married and has four children.

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For information media • not an official record