Alain Pellegrini

Alain Pellegrini (La Flèche, France, 12 August 1946) is a French général de Division.

A former student of the "École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr", Pellegrini graduated from general staff schools before being appointed in Africa and the Middle East, and commanding a regiment of the "troupes de marine" in Fréjus. He served as adviser to the Defence Minister of Benin, and as the Defence Attaché at the French Embassy in Beirut. He took part to both the UNPROFOR and the IFOR in 1995 and 96, and worked for the implentation of the Dayton Agreement in Sarajevo and Mostar.

In 2000, as a colonel, he headed the Africa and Middle East Division at the "Direction du Renseignement Militaire" (Military Intelligence Directorate) in Paris.

From July 2001, he was counsellor of the "Chef d’état-major des armées" (CEMA, Chief of Staff of the French army) for Africa and Middle East.

On 26 January 2004, he took command of the UNIFIL, succeeding to General Lalit Mohan Tewari.

After the Israeli Army shelled un UN position on 25 July 2006, killing four, general Pellegrini said that the shelling was "probably deliberate", and that he had personally phoned the Israeli "five or six times" without being able to reach past secretaries.

On the 2 February 2007 Pellegrini passed the command of the UNIFIL to the Italian General Claudio Graziano.

External links

* [http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2004/sga863.html Major-General Alain Pellegrini Appointed Force Commander of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)] , UN.
* [http://www.operationspaix.net/PELLEGRINI-M-Gen-Alain PELLEGRINI, (M-Gén.) Alain] , www.operationspaix.net