UN secretary general appoints Pakistani as force commander in Western Sahara

Maj-Gen Tayyab Azam, who was FC commandant in K-P will take over as commander of UN MINURSO

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday appointed Major-General Muhammad Tayyab Azam as the force commander of the mission in Western Sahara.

#UNSG Ban Ki-moon has appointed Major General Muhammad Tayyab Azam of #Pakistan as Force Commander of #MINURSO. #WesternSahara

— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) September 4, 2015

Maj-Gen Azam was serving as the Frontier Corps (FC) commandant in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He had been appointed as IG FC in February 2014.

He will now take over command of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), from Major-General Imam Edy Mulyono of Indonesia whose tour of duty ends on September 17, 2015.

Read: Major General Tayyab Azam appointed as new IG FC in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

Maj-Gen Azam has 30 years of national and international military experience. Prior to serving as Inspector General of the Frontier Corps, he served as Director General and Deputy Director of the Intelligence Services from 2010 to 2014. He commanded an infantry brigade from 2009 to 2010.

He has also served with the UN as a military observer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2000 to 2001.

The UN MINURSO was established by Security Council resolution 690 on April 29, 1991, in accordance with settlement proposals accepted on August 30, 1988, by Morocco and the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y de Río de Oro (Frente POLISARIO).

Read: Pakistan's General Maqsood Ahmed new UN military advisor

The settlement plan, as approved by the Security Council, provided for a transitional period for the preparation of a referendum in which the people of Western Sahara would choose between independence and integration with Morocco

In August 2013, Lieutenant General Maqsood Ahmed of Pakistan had been appointed as the military adviser for peacekeeping operations. He took oath in February 2014.