The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed a senior female Ghanaian military officer as the head of mission and force commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which monitors the disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria, a release has said.
The release named Anita Asmah, a major general from Ghana, as the replacement for Nirmal Kumar Thapa, a Nepalese lieutenant general, who will complete his assignment in the middle of Dec. 2024.
“Asmah brings to the position 31 years of leadership and command experience in the Ghana Armed Forces and United Nations peacekeeping,” the statement said.
The Ghanaian officer also served as the deputy force commander of UNDOF between 2021 and 2023.
She also served as a staff officer in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from 2012 to 2013 and 2015 to 2016 and as a military observer in the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) from 2003 to 2004.
Most recently, she served as Director General in the Department of Defence Civilian of the Ghanaian Armed Forces.