Factbox: New UNISFA chief Haile Tilahun Gebremariam
The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has a new head of mission. Ethiopian administrator Haile Tilahun Gebremariam replaces his countryman Lt.-Gen Yohannes Gebremeskel Tesfamariam, who was transferred to the position of force commander of the UN's South Sudan mission UNMISS in June last year.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon announced Gebremariam's appointment yesterday.
As head of mission for UNISFA, Gebremariam is charged with monitoring the disputed Abyei area between Sudan and South Sudan as a demilitarized zone devoid of the Sudan Armed Forces and Sudan People's Liberation Army.
The Mission is further mandated to monitor and report on human rights violations, protect civilians, protect Abyei from invading armed groups, facilitate humanitarian aid, and secure oil facilities.
Gebremariam will be in charge of 4,066 total uniformed personnel, including nearly 4000 troops, 97 military observers, 23 police officers, and 214 civilian staff and volunteers.
The mission's 2014-2015 budget was $318,925,200.
Here's some information about Gebremariam:
-Gebremariam was born in 1954. He has a masters degree from the Open University in the United Kingdom.
-His career spans two decades in Ethiopia's Ministry of Defense and the private sector.
-From 1996 to 1997 he served as chief of logistics at the Ministry of Defense, followed by a stint as the Ministry's chief of administration.
-Gebremariam was deputy commander of the Ethiopian Air Force from 1998 to 2001, before serving as the State Minister of Defense from 2003-2006.
-In 2006, he joined the private sector, working as an advisor to engineering and audit companies, before becoming chief of logistics with the Ethiopia-based Ambassel Trading House in 2013.
-Gebremariam is married with three children.
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