15/02/2006

Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS MAJOR GENERAL RAFAEL JOSE BARNI of ARGENTINA

AS FORCE COMMANDER OF UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING FORCE IN CYPRUS

The Secretary-General has appointed Major General Rafael José Barni of Argentina as Force Commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), in succession to Major General Herbert Figoli of Uruguay who completed his assignment on 12 January.

Major General Barni served as the Commanding Officer of Argentine Army Logistic Command from 2004 to 2005.  Between 2003 and 2004, he was the chief of the Planning Department of the Argentine Army, and from 2000 to 2003, he served as the Assistant Military Attaché to the Argentine Embassy in Washington , D.C. , and later as Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at the Argentine Army General Staff from 2002 to 2003.

As a Lieutenant Colonel, he was the Commanding Officer of the Fifteenth Infantry Regiment from 1993 to 1994.  He served in UNFICYP as the Commanding Officer of the Argentine Battalion for one year and also performed duties as a military observer in the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) from 1989 to 1990.  He also organized and participated in the preparation of combat teams for the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia , Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) in 1996 and for the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM) in 1995.

Major General Barni has a university degree in strategy and organization from the Command and General Staff College in Buenos Aires .  He also holds post-graduate degrees in military strategic planning and strategy from the Command and General Staff College in Buenos Aires .

Born in 1950, Major General Barni is married and has three children.

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