The MINURSO was set up in 1991 to monitor a UN-brokered ceasefire between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario separatists after over ten years of fighting. The two parties dispute the control of The Sahara, a former Spanish colony that was ceded to Morocco under the Madrid Accord signed in 1975.
"This will be the first time the UN has had a Chinese force commander heading one of its missions," Ms. Montas said. The appointment is subject to the approval of the UN Security Council.
Since October 2003, Gen. Jingmin was a senior official in the Chinese Defense Ministry. He was also China’s military attaché in Tunisia.
Gen. Jingmin had also served in the UN Iraq-Kuwait observer mission in 1996-97 and in the UN mission in the Sahara as a military observer from September 1991 until June 1992.
Born in Shanxi, China in 1954, Zhao Jingmin holds a degree from the Institute of Foreign Languages in Beijing and from the Dakar University. He speaks fluent English and French.
Source : MAP
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