Haiti: Brazilian general to be new Force Commander for UN peacekeeping mission

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today named Major General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz of Brazil as the new Force Commander of the peacekeeping UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

The major general, 50, has been the Commander of the 13th Infantry Light Brigade since January 2005. He has also served as Chief of the Section of International Relations for the Brazilian Army General Staff as well as the Brazilian Defence Attaché to the Russian Federation.

Major General Santos Cruz joined the Brazilian Army in 1971 and was awarded a doctorate from the Command and Staff College in 1990.

He will succeed Lt. Gen. José Elito Carvalho Siqueira, also of Brazil, who was appointed to the post in January 2006.

The Secretary-General communicated his intention to appoint Major General Santos Cruz in a letter to the Security Council, which established MINUSTAH in 2004 after an insurgency forced elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile. The mission has a mandate to promote a secure and stable environment, support the political process and monitor and uphold human rights.