Babacar Gaye

Babacar Gaye (born 31 January, 1951 in Saint Louis, Senegal) is a Senegalese Army General who since 2005 serves as Force Commander for the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Education

Babacar Gaye studied at the military academy École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, where he enrolled in 1970 and graduated in 1972.

Lieutenant-General Gaye attended military courses at prestigious war colleges and military schools in France and Belgium.

He joined the École Supérieure de Guerre (army war college) in Paris in 1986 and graduated in 1988.

Career

In 2005, The Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has decided to appoint Lieutenant-General Babacar Gaye (Senegal) as the new Force Commander of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). He replaces Major-General Iliya (Nigeria) and is the third Force Commander of MONUC and the second commander from Senegal after General Mountaga Diallo.

In January 2004, he was assigned as Ambassador of Senegal in Germany by president Abdoulaye Wade.

Babacar Gaye was promoted to the rank of Brigade General in 2000, when he became Chef d'état-major general des armées (Chief of the Defence Staff) from May 2000 to August 2003 and to Divisional General (equivalent to Major General) in 2002.

Prior to this position, he led an extensive and distinguished military career, having served, among others, as Chief of Military Region from November 1997 to May 2000.

From 1994 to 1997, he served as the Director of Senegalese foreign intelligence agency.

In 1991, he served as commander of the Senegalese contingent in the Operation Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia based in Dhahran.

He also served as the Commander of the Senegalese contingent in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from August 1979 to March 1980. From July 1974 to February 1975, he served in the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF).

Personal life

General Gaye is the son of former Secretary General of the OIC and Foreign Minister of Senegal Amadou Karim Gaye. Gaye and his wife, a banker, had a son and a daughter.

External links

*http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/monuc/facts.html