United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Tuesday 29^th december the appointment of Lieutenant General Derick Mbuyiselo Mgwebi of South Africa as Force Commander of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

He succeeds Lieutenant General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz of Brazil, who
completed his assignment on 2 December 2015. The Secretary-General is grateful
to General Cruz for his significant contribution to MONUSCO over the past two
and a half years.

Lieutenant General Mgwebi has more than 35
years of national and international military experience. In 1991, he was
appointed Director of Special Forces of the South African National Defence
Forces and in 1993 Director of Training and Operations. He held the post of
Military Secretary at the Ministry of Defence (1995-1997) and he served at
Mpumalanga Command (1997-2002), after which he was appointed Director of the
South African Army Infantry Formation.

From 2004 to 2006, he served as Force
Commander of the United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB). From 2007 to 2011
Lieutenant General Mgwebi was the Chief of Human Resources of the South African
National Defence Force.

He is currently the Chief Joint Operations of the South
African National Defence Forces.





Lieutenant General Mgwebi holds a diploma in Defence Management and a degree in
business administration from the University of South Africa.





Born in 1956, he is married and has two children.