UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named Maj. Gen. Carlos Dos Santos Cruz of Brazil as force commander of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti.
The secretary-general communicated his intention to appoint Santos Cruz in a letter Tuesday to the U.N. Security Council which established the mission, in 2004, known by its French acronym, MINUSTAH.
Santos Cruz has been commander of the 13th Infantry Light Brigade since January 2005. He has also served as chief of the Section of International Relations for the Brazilian Army General Staff as well as the Brazilian defense attache to the Russian Federation, said the spokeswoman for Ban, Michele Montas.
Santos Cruz joined the Brazilian Army in 1971 and was awarded a doctorate from the Command and Staff College in 1990.
He will succeed Lt. Gen. Jose Elito Carvalho Siqueira, also of Brazil, who was appointed to the post in January 2006.
MINUSTAH was formed after an insurgency forced elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile. The mission has a mandate to promote a secure and stable environment, support the political process and monitor and uphold human rights.
