Secretary-General Appoints Lieutenant General Dennis Gyllensporre of Sweden Force Commander of United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Lieutenant General Dennis Gyllensporre of Sweden as Force Commander of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Lieutenant General Gyllensporre succeeds Major General Jean-Paul Deconinck of Belgium, who will complete his assignment on 2 October.  The Secretary-General is grateful for his exemplary service and leadership of MINUSMA.

As the Chief of the Swedish Defence Staff and Head of Special Forces since November 2014, Lieutenant General Gyllensporre has had a long and distinguished career since joining the Swedish Army in 1983.  Between 2008 and 2014, he served as Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commanders Staff, Head of the Force Development Department, as well as Head of the Plans and Policy Department in the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters.  From 2001 to 2002, he commanded a battalion at the 19th Infantry Regiment.

He also has extensive international operational experience, notably as liaison officer in Bosnia Herzegovina during the NATO-led Stabilization Force operation in 1997‑1998, as Vice-Chairman and Chief Operations Officer at the Joint Military Commission, Nuba Mountains, Sudan, from 2002 to 2003, as head of Doctrine and Concepts Branch at the European Union Military Staff in Brussels, Belgium, from 2005 to 2008, and as the Chief of Staff in Regional Command North of the International Security Assistance Force, the NATO-led operation in Afghanistan in 2008.

Lieutenant General Gyllensporre holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Maastricht University (Netherlands) and master’s degrees from the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology, the Warwick Business School (United Kingdom) and the United States Army Command and General Staff College.  He is an Associate Professor in Strategy and Political Science at the Swedish Defence University, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences and of the advisory council of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, and a board member of the Anna Lindh Academy, Sweden.

Born in 1964, Lieutenant General Gyllensporre is married and has three children.