SG/A/993
BIO/3754
PKO/133
       13 April 2006

Biographical Note

Secretary-General Appoints Major-General Mohammad Taisir Masadeh new Force Commander of UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea

NEW YORK, 12 April (UN Headquarters) -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Major-General Mohammad Taisir Masadeh from Jordan as Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).

Since 2004, Major-General Masadeh has served as Assistant Chief of Staff, Planning and Organization in the General Headquarters of the Jordanian Armed Forces in Amman.  Previously, he was Division Commander of the Eastern Region, covering Jordan's borders with Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.  In 1992 and 1993, Major-General Masadeh served as Deputy Chief of Operations and Military Assistant to the Force Commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force in the former Yugoslavia, UNPROFOR.

Major-General Masadeh holds a Master's degree in Administration and Military Sciences from Mu'tta University (Jordan), as well as a Master's degree in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College.  He attended Jordan's Royal Military Academy from 1970 to 1972.

Major-General Masadeh was born in 1952.  He is married and has three children.

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