Distinguished UN peacekeeper from Finland dead at 81

A Finnish military officer who distinguished himself in United Nations peacekeeping operations in the Middle East has died at the age of 81.

Gen. Ensio Siilasvuo, who passed away late last week, was commander of the UN observer mission in the Middle East from 1973 to1975 and head coordinator of UN peacekeeping in Jerusalem from 1975 to 1979, a UN spokesperson said in New York.

General Siilasvuo was instrumental in brokering the armistice between Israel and Egypt in the fall of 1973. The location of the negotiations - a military tent at the kilometre post 101 on the road between Suez and Cairo - became the symbol of peacekeeping operations.