Chief of Defence Staff commends new UNDOF head
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has congratulated Major General (Maj Gen) Anita Asmah on her appointment as Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations (UN) Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
This was during a meeting between the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), General Thomas Oppong-Peprah and Major General Asmah.
The new UNDOF head had called on the CDS to officially inform him of her appointment which was confirmed by the UN Secretary General last December 12.
Gen. Oppong-Peprah attributed Maj. Gen Asmah's appointment to her hard work, resilience and professional posture during her tenure as Deputy Force Commander of the same force.
He expressed confidence that she would succeed and just as others had done, she would lift high the flag of Ghana in international peacekeeping.
In her response, Maj. Gen Asmah expressed her gratitude to the CDS for his support and direction which she believed contributed to her new appointment.
UNDOF is the United Nations peacekeeping mission that monitors the ceasefire between Israel and Syria and the separation areas in the Golan Heights:
Established in 1974 after the Yom Kippur War, UNDOF's mandate is to maintain the ceasefire, supervise the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces and monitor the separation areas.
Its mission is located in the hilly highlands of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range system.
Major General Asmah’s appointment was confirmed by the Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
She assumes her role in January 2025, taking over from Lieutenant General Nirmal Kumar Thapa of Nepal, who has ended his term.
She is the third female of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to have assumed a top UN role in recent times and the second military officer to rise to a UN job.
The first Ghanaian and military officer to assume a top UN role was the late Brigadier General Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu who was appointed a Deputy Force Commander of the UN
Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) with their base in Morocco.
After serving her term, Brigadier General Edjeani-Afenu was immediately succeeded by Naval Commodore Faustina Boakyewaa Anokye of the Ghana Navy.
Major General Asmah brings to the position 31 years of leadership and command experience in the Ghana Armed Forces and the United Nations peacekeeping.
Most recently, she served as Director General in the Department of Defence Civilian Establishment of the Ghanaian Armed Forces. Prior to that, Major General Asmah was the Deputy Force Commander of UNDOF (2021-2023). She also served as a Staff Officer in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) (2015-2016 and 2012-2013) and as a Military Observer in the United Nations Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) (2003-2004).
She has also held numerous other senior-level positions within the Ghana Armed Forces, including as Director of Education, Deputy Military Secretary and Course Director at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre.