Former top Indian commander appointed as UN envoy to Sudan

Betwa Sharma
United Nations, Dec 25 (PTI) The UN Secretary-General
has appointed a former top Indian Army commander, who has
served with the world body's peacekeeping forces in Africa, as
his special envoy for Sudan.
Ban Ki-moon has appointed Lieutenant General (retired)
Jasbir Singh Lidder, who has served as the Additional Director
General of Military Operations in the Indian Army, as his
Deputy Special Representative for Sudan.
Lidder has extensive experience of working in
peacekeeping mission in Africa, including in Sudan as the
force commander of the UN Mission to Sudan (UNMIS) and as
Chief of Staff in the military component of the UN Operation
in Mozambique (ONUMOZ) in the mid-1990s.
Lidder also assisted in conflict-resolution activities
and the protection of civilians in the Darfur conflict where
he played a key role in the transition from the African Union
Mission to Sudan (AMIS) to the African Union-United Nations
Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), according to the UN.
Born in 1949, Lidder attended the National Defence
Academy as well as the Army War College where he procured two
masters degrees in philosophy in defence studies and
management and another in defence and strategic studies, it
said. PTI