- Shiva Kumar
Brigadier General KS Shiva Kumar (bornJanuary 29 ,1948 ) was the third and finalForce commander of UN troops serving inRwanda .Biography
Kumar was born in Madras,
India . As a youth, he attended St. Thomas High School, Loyola College and Presidency College where he earned aBachelor's of Science . He is a graduate of the staff course at theDefence Services Staff College and has attended bothHigher Command andNational Defence College .In August 1967, Kumar was commissioned from
Officers Training Academy at the age of 19. He joinedJat regiment onJune 23 1968, and later commanded the regiment inArunachal Pradesh andRajasthan . He also commanded a division of theAssam Rifles in the Ukhrul district of Northeastern Manipur.He was awarded the
Vishisht Seva Medal .UNAMIR Service
Kumar acted as second-in-command of
UNAMIR untilGuy Tousignant 's parting on December 8 1995, when he assumed acting command until the mission's completion in March 1996. He oversaw 1,252 troops and military support personnel, 146 military observers, 56 United Nations Volunteers and approximately 160 international and 160 local civilian staff. [ [http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/unamirF.htm UNAMIR ] ] The Indian army contingent under UNAMIR consisted of an Infantry Battalion 1/3 Gurkha Rifles, an Engineers company commanded by Maj B Pandey and a Signals company commanded by Maj AV Malhotra. Kumar was also the head of the Indian contingent.In March, Kumar left Rwanda and flew to
Nairobi ,Kenya , with five bodyguards, stating to the media present, "We did a good job here under very difficult circumstances. I am proud of what the troops achieved." ["The Guardian ",20 April ,1996 .]After Rwanda
In the autumn of 1998, he presented a scholastic paper entitled "The Role of Non-governmental Organizations (NGO), the Civil Society Living in the Area of the Peacekeeping Operations, and the Media in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations" at the first [http://www.pacom.mil/forum/Fall_98/Banglad_r.html South Asian Peacekeeping Experience Seminar] in
Bangladesh .In April 2004, he was posted as Chief Army Instructor at the
Defence Services Staff College .On
July 1 ,2006 , took over as Chief of Staff for India's Eastern Command. He retired from this appointment on 31 Jan 2008.Trivia
*Kumar is fond of
classical music . [http://in.news.yahoo.com/060703/48/65leh.html]References
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