El Fasher, 29 May 2009 - The new Deputy Force Commander of UNAMID, Maj. Gen. Duma Mdutyana Dumisani of South Africa, arrived today in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the headquarters of the Mission, to begin work with UNAMID.

This is Maj. Gen. Dumisani’s third stint in the field of international peacekeeping. He served with an African Union force in Burundi (AMIB) in 2002 and then with the United Nations force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) between 2005 and 2007.

The Deputy Force Commander said he plans to focus on tackling UNAMID’s enormous logistical and deployment challenges, as well as overall security issues, while serving with the Mission.

“If you want to have a Mission up and running at its full force, then you have got to resolve the problems of logistics and deployment,” he said after his arrival today.

Maj. Gen. Dumisani, who succeeds Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Karenzi of Rwanda as Deputy Force Commander, will formally begin his duties on 31 May.