Secretary-General Appoints Major General Hassen Ebrahim Mussa of Ethiopia Force Commander, United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Major General Hassen Ebrahim Mussa of Ethiopia as Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).

He succeeds Lieutenant General Birhanu Jula Gelalcha, also of Ethiopia, who will complete his assignment on 20 January 2016, and to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedication and effective leadership of UNISFA as head of the military component.

Major General Mussa has a long and distinguished career with the Ethiopian Armed Forces.  He is currently the Head of the Peacekeeping Coordination Centre in the Ethiopian Armed Forces.  He graduated from the Ethiopian Defence Command and Staff College in 2005 and has been a corps commander from 2011 to 2012.

Having served from 2010 to 2011 as Sector Commander North in the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), where he gained valuable experience in United Nations peacekeeping, he previously served as Head of Foreign Relations and Military Cooperation and Peacekeeping (2005-2010), Head of West Command Indoctrination (2003-2004), Division Commander (1998-1999) and Brigade Commander (1995-1996), among other appointments within the Ethiopian Armed Forces.

Major General Mussa holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Open University in the United Kingdom.

Born in 1966, he is married and has four children.