UNMOGIP gets new head

KL Report

SRINAGAR

A top Ghanaian military official has been appointed head of the UN Military Observers Group stationed along the LoC between India and Pakistan.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana as Chief Military Observer and Head of Mission for the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).

Sakyi, 59, succeeds Major General Young-Bum Choi of the Republic of Korea, who completed his two-year assignment in June.

With more than 35 years of military command and staff experience at national and international levels, Sakyi served most recently as Force Commander for the UN Mission in South Sudan.

He has held command and staff positions in the Ghana Armed Forces including Assistant Commandant of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Junior Division and Commander of the Army Combat Training School.

UNMOGIP’s headquarters remain in Islamabad from November- April and in Srinagar from May-October every year.

UNMOGIP observers have been located at the ceasefire line between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir since 1949 and supervise the ceasefire between the two neighbours.

As of May this year, UNMOGIP has 40 military observers, 23 international civilian personnel and 45 local civilian staff.

The observer group is financed by the United Nations regular budget and appropriations for biennium 2014 – 2015 are USD 19.64 million.

UNMOGIP has become an attraction for every separatist leader who at times try to reach to its headquarters in Srinagar and submit memorandums seeking intervention in the resolution of Kashmir dispute.

UN Security Council (UNSC) has passed many resolutions about plebiscite in Kashmir and most of the separatists demand their implementation in letter and spirit.

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