UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has appointed Major General Hassen Ebrahim Mussa of Ethiopia as Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), the UN announced.

Maj Gen Mussa succeeds Lieutenant General Lieutenant General Birhanu Jula Gelalcha also of Ethiopia, who will complete his assignment on 20 January 2016.

According to a UN statement, the new force commander is serving as head of the Ethiopian Armed Forces peacekeeping coordination center, and previously served as Sector Commander North in the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) from 2010-2011.

A graduate of the Ethiopian Defence Command and Staff College and a masters degree holder from the UK's Open University, Maj Gen Mussa was head of foreign relations and military cooperation and peacekeeping for the Ethiopian Armed Forces from 2005-2010, among other command positions since 1995.

Born in 1966, the new force commander is married with four children.

Photo: Maj Gen Hassen Ebrahim Mussa (Andualem Sisay/Nation Media Group)