Norwegian
Major General Kristin Lund, who has served in Bosnia and Afghanistan, to lead
1,000 peacekeepers in Cyprus
theguardian.com,
Associated Press, Tuesday 13 May 2014
The first woman has been appointed to command a United Nations peacekeeping force – a Norwegian general who has served in Lebanon, the first Gulf war, Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Major General Kristin Lund will be the commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus. Photograph: Xinhua /Landov/Barcroft Media |
The first woman has been appointed to command a United Nations peacekeeping force – a Norwegian general who has served in Lebanon, the first Gulf war, Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Major
General Kristin Lund will replace Chinese Major General Chao Liu on 13 August
as commander of about 1,000 peacekeepers in Cyprus, the UN spokesman Stephane
Dujarric announced on Monday.
Cyprus has
been divided into a Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south since 1974
and talks have resumed to reunite the Mediterranean island.
Lund said
she had been to Cyprus several times and was looking forward to the challenges
of her new job – maintaining the ceasefire and supporting efforts to deal with
minefields, unaccounted people and property disputes, among other issues.
She told
the Associated Press she was proud to crack the glass ceiling in UN
peacekeeping. "I think it's time, and I think it's important that other
women see that it's possible also in the UN system to get up in the military
hierarchy to become a force commander."
Lund, 55,
joined the Norwegian army in 1979 and went on her first overseas mission in
1986 as transport officer with the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
She said
that was where she fell in love with the UN and learned that "maybe the
most important weapon that you have is communication and to build
relations".
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