UNITED NATIONS – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed MajorGeneral Jose Eladio Alcain of Uruguay as Chief Military Observer and Headof Mission for the United Nations Military Observer Group in India andPakistan (UNMOGIP), which monitors the ceasefire in the disputed Jammu andKashmir, a UN spokesman said Tuesday.

Major General Alcain will succeed Major General Per Gustaf Lodin of Sweden,who will complete his two-year assignment in July 2018.“The Secretary-General is grateful to Major General Lodin for hiscontribution to United Nations peacekeeping efforts,” the spokesman said.

Major General Alcain has extensive peacekeeping experience, having servedin five peacekeeping operations, including United Nations AssistanceMission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) (1994-1995), United Nations Angola VerificationMission III (UNAVEM) (1996-1997), United Nations Iraq-Kuwait ObservationMission (UNIKOM) (1999-2000), United Nations Organization Mission in theDemocratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) (2003-2004), and United NationsStabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) (2006-2007 and 2011-2012).

He graduated from the Uruguayan War College and is currently pursuing aMaster’s in Political Science from the Uruguayan National University. Hehas also attended the UN Senior Mission Leaders course in 2017.

UNMOGIP, one of the oldest UN mission, was deployed in January 1949 tosupervise the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in the State of Jammuand Kashmir.

The group, based in Rawalpindi, is composed of 43 military observers and 23international civilian personnel.