Arrival of New Deputy Force Commander to MINURSO

Arrival of new DFC in MINURSO

3 Oct 2019

Arrival of New Deputy Force Commander to MINURSO

On Monday 16 September 2019 Brigadier-General Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu (Gha. Ar.) arrived in MINURSO to take up the position of Deputy Force Commander as a replacement of the outgoing Brigadier-General  (Ban. Ar.) Abu Syed Mohammod Bakir  after the end of his term. A military parade was held as the Mission HQ to honor the newly arrived Deputy FC. The ceremony was chaired by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara and Head of Mission Mr. Colin Stewart, the Force Commander, Major-General (Pak. Ar.)  Zia Ur Rehman  and the Chief of Mission Support Veneranda Mukandoli-Jefferson as well as all the military and civilian personnel serving in the Mission HQ .

 

Brigadier-General Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu was commissioned into the Ghana Armed Forces on 25 April 1980 as a Second Lieutenant, after an eighteen months regular training at the Ghana Military Academy. On completion of her initial regular military training, she served as a Platoon Commander at the 2nd Battalion of Infantry in 1980 for her regimental training after which she was posted as Platoon Commander and Adjutant to the 3rd Border Guards Battalion from 1981 to 1982. She was subsequently appointed General Staff Officer Grade 3 (Training, and Personnel Staff Officer) at the Border Guards HQ from 1983 to 1984 and as Adjutant at the Border Guards Training School, Kpetoe in 1984.  In 1995 she was appointed the Second in Command of the Ghana Armed Forces Pay Regiment and in 1999 was appointed  the Commanding Officer all of which she became the first female in the Armed Forces to occupy these posts.  In 2013 she became the first woman to be appointed Deputy Military Adviser (DMILAD) at the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the UN, New York till 2016. Whilst serving as DMILAD, she was promoted in March 2016 to the rank of Brigadier-General, becoming the first female to be ever promoted as a General in the Ghana Armed Forces.   She is currently the Ghana Armed Forces Representative to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department. Brigadier General Edjeani-Afenu also participated in UN peacekeeping operations as the GhanaBatts (Ghana Battalion) in UNIFIL (1994 & 1998);  MONUSCO (2007) and UNMIL (2009). Further she served as Military Observer between 2003 and 2004 in MONUSCO and first female Team Leader in that Mission. MINURSO, in full adherence of gender policy launched by the Secretary-General, is very proud to a have a female General Officer for the first time serving in its ranks and wishes to the Brigadier -General Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu the full success in her new position.