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Nepalese general named to head UN force in Golan Heights

Nepalese general named to head UN force in Golan Heights

Major-General Bala Nanda Sharma of Nepal is the new Force Commander of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights, Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced today.

General Sharma, 54, takes over from Major-General Franciszek Gagor of Poland on Friday as head of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Since 1974, the mission has maintained the ceasefire between Israel and Syria and monitored the disengagement of their forces while maintaining an 80-kilometre area of separation.

General Sharma joined the Royal Nepalese Army in 1969 and served, among other posts, as an assistant military officer with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 1980. He is currently commanding an infantry division in western Nepal.