The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday announced the appointment of Lieutenant General Frank Mushyo Kamanzi as Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Kamanzi brings to the position more than 28 years of national and international military experience, as well as command and staff experience, according to a related UN statement.

Before his current appointment as Force Commander of the United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) since 2016, he served as Army Chief of Staff in the Rwanda Defence Force (2012-2015).

He served as Commander of the Rwanda Military Academy (2010-2012) and commanded an infantry brigade (2007-2010). He held the position of Deputy Force Commander in the African Union Mission in Sudan (2006-2007) and also served as a member of Joint Military Commission, Lusaka Peace Process for the DR Congo (1999-2000).

Kamanzi has a Master’s degree in national security strategy from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. 

He is a graduate of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Jaji, Nigeria, and the Army Command College in Nanjing, China.

Born in Uganda in 1964, General Kamanzi is married and has five children.

*More troops for UNMISS*

End last month, Kigali confirmed it is prepared to send more peacekeepers to be part of UNMISS.

The acting Defence and Military Spokesperson, Lt Col René Ngendahimana, confirmed this end last month after U.N. peacekeeping chief, Hervé Ladsous said during a visit to Juba, that the first peacekeepers from Rwanda, Nepal and Bangladesh will begin arriving in the next few weeks.

An additional force is required by the UN and Rwanda is ready to contribute an additional battalion, Ngendahimana told The New Times last month.

Rwanda presently maintains over 1,800 peacekeepers as part of UNMISS. The UN is reportedly sparing no effort to speed up deployment of 4,000 extra troops of a Regional Protection Force earlier mandated by the Security Council.