Leadership

Mr. Victor Da Silva Angelo, Special Representative of the Secretary-General 

 

The Secretary-General appointed Mr. Victor Da Silva Angelo of Portugal as his Special Representative for the United Nations Mission in Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) on 31 January 2008.

 
Mr. Angelo has had a long and distinguished career with the United Nations. He was the Executive Representative of the Secretary-General for Sierra Leone, as well as the Resident Coordinator of the UN System in Freetown from November 2005 to December 2007. Prior to that appointment, Mr. Angelo served as United Nations Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator, as well as UNDP Resident Representative in Zimbabwe, from 2000 to 2004.
 
Earlier in his career, Mr. Angelo held the positions of UNDP Special Envoy for East Timor and Asia, Deputy Regional Director for Africa at UNDP in New York, Resident Coordinator/Resident Representative in Tanzania and the Gambia, and Deputy Resident Representative in the Central African Republic. He also served as United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative in Mozambique and United Nations Adviser in Sao Tome and Principe.
 
Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Angelo worked as University Lecturer and Senior Statistician in the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics (INE). In 1974-1975, he was a member of the Electoral Commission of Portugal.
 

Born in 1949, Mr. Angelo holds a master's degree in sociology from Instituto Superior Economico e Social of Evora, Portugal, and did post-graduate studies in sociology at Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. 

 

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Ms. Rima Salah, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General 

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Rima Salah of Jordan as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT).

 

Ms. Salah has served the United Nations for 20 years in increasingly senior positions in the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). She recently served as UNICEF Deputy Executive Director in New York. Prior to this appointment, she worked as UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa in Dakar, Senegal, where, among other achievements, she was responsible for the establishment of the United Nations office in Abéché, in eastern Chad. Earlier in her career, she served with UNICEF in Viet Nam, Burkina Faso, and Pakistan.

 

Ms. Salah holds a doctorate in cultural anthropology from the State University of New York. She is fluent in English, French and Arabic.

 

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Major General ELHADJI MAHAMADOU KANDJI , Force Commander  MINURCAT
 
Born on 29 December 1950 in Dakar (Senegal), Major General Elhadji Mahamadou Kandji is the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) that succeeded to the European Force (EUFOR) on March 15, 2009.
 
MILITARY EDUCATION:
·          Royal Military Academy of Meknes (Morocco), he graduated as best cadet of his class in July 1972.
·          Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, Georgia (USA) in 1973;
·          Infantry Officer Advanced Course at E.A.I. at Montpelier (France) in 1981;
·          Command and Staff College, 56th  class at Compiegne (France) in 1982;
·          War College, 104th  class at Paris (France) in 1992;
·          Major General Elhadji Mahamadou Kandji speaks and writes easily French and English and, understands written Arabic.
         
MILITARY SERVICE:
·          Platoon Leader and Company Commander of the “Commandos Task Force”;
·          Deputy Military Attaché at the Embassy of Senegal in Morocco;
·          Commander of the 12th  National Training  Battalion;
·          Commander of the 5th Infantry Battalion;
·          Head of the technical cell in charge of studies and operations   at the Armed Forces Headquarters;
·          Military Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Armed Forces;
·          Deputy Inspector General of the  Armed Forces;
·          Commander of the  Regional Military Zone N°2;
·          Military Attaché at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
·          PEACEKEEPING EXPERIENCE:
·          Platoon Leader at Sinai , Egypt (UNEF) in 1974;
·          Staff Officer in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 1981;
·          Military Observer in Kuwait (UNIKOM) in 1994;
·          Deputy Military Adviser at the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York (2003-2006).He conducted in April 2006 the verification of the withdrawal Syrian troops from the Lebanese territory;
·          Deputy Force Commander of UNOCI (Ivory Coast) from 2006 to 2009;
·          Force Commander of MINURCAT (CAR and Chad) since 15 February 2009;
 
 
DECORATIONS:
·          Officer of the National Lion’s Order of Senegal;
·          Commander of the Merit Order of Senegal;
·          Holder of three (3) Crosses of Military Valor  of Senegal;
·          Knight  of the  French Honor Legion;
·          Knight of Orange-Nassau Order of Netherlands;
·          Four (4) UN commemorative medals for Peacekeeping Operations ‘’ in the service of the peace’’ (UNEF; FINUL, MONUIK, ONUCI);
·          UN medal for Special Services at  UN Headquarters (New York);
·          Commemorative medal of the Gulf War, ‘’Desert Storm’’.
 
Major General Elhadji Mahamadou Kandji is the member of the International Peace Academy. He is the author of two works research and reflection entitled: “Saga of the first Senegalese blue helmets in the Congo in 1960” and “Africa facing Europe in 1993: “Issues and Challenges”
 
 

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Major-General Gerardo Chaumont, Police Commissioner

 

Major-General Gerardo Christian Chaumont of Argentina assumed his duties as Chief of the Police of the United Nations Mission in Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) in August 2008.
 

Prior to his arrival in Chad, Maj-Gen Chaumont served as Police Commissioner in the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI) from April 2006 to June 2007 and in the United Nations Operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) from June to December 2002.  He was also the Chief of the Police Support Team in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in June 2005, where his duties included reform, restructuring and training.  In December 1994, Maj-Gen Chaumont was responsible for the establishment of the Formed Police Unit in MIPONUH-Haiti, which he headed as Commander until March 1995.

 

An officer of the gendarmerie where he was in the Second Section of general officers, Maj-Gen Chaumont, left active service as Deputy National Director of the Argentinean Gendarmerie in 2006.
 
Maj-Gen Chaumont pursued higher education in his country, where he holds a Masters degree in Psychology. He also has a Certificate from the Higher Military Studies of the French Gendarmerie (1990), a Higher Diploma from the Military Academy in Paris (1989) and a Certificate in Drugs Control from the Drug Enforcement Administration in the United States.
 

Maj-Gen Chaumont has been decorated with the medal of the French National Gendarmerie and received the United Nations Medal four times.

 

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Mr. Guy Siri, Chief of Mission Support

 

Guy Siri arrived in Chad on 12 August 2008 to become the Chief of Mission Support for the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT).
 
Prior to his arrival Mr. Siri worked as Deputy Coordinator for Humanitarian, Reconstruction and Development for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). He was Director of Administrative and Support Services at the Headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in 2004, and Chief Technical Adviser for UN Habitat in Iraq in 1997, where he was later promoted to Deputy Director of Operations in Beirut and Jerusalem.
 
Mr. Siri also worked in the private sector for seven years as a Project Manager for Oger International in the Middle East. Following this experience; he  moved to East Africa and worked with Save the Children Fund UK as a Senior Hospital Engineer for three years, before returning to the Middle East in 1989 as a Field Engineering Officer for UNRWA, Syria.
 
Guy Siri was born in Dijon, France, in 1955 and graduated from the Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Saint Etienne in 1979.