On 5-6 February, the UN Acting Military Advisor (A/MILAD) Lieutenant General Cheryl Pearce paid a two-day visit to MINURSO. Upon her arrival at the Mission’s Headquarters in Laayoune, Lt Gen Pearce was welcomed with a military parade before holding bilateral meetings with SRSG and Head of the Mission Alexander Ivanko and with MINURSO Force Commander Major General Md Fakhrul Ahsan. Lt Gen Pearce also received briefings from MINURSO personnel on the Mission’s work, and addressed all of the Mission’s team sites via a video link. On the second day of her visit, the Acting Military Advisor travelled to Smara and Bir Lahlou Team Sites to see first-hand the Mission’s deployment in the field.
Upon her return from our Team Sites, Lieutenant General Pearce said that the visit had been “a great opportunity to visualize what I receive in briefings and to better understand not only the overall context but also the operational and tactical level of our operations.” While the UN may be experiencing challenging moments in the global financial context, what I have seen is how our “military observers have stepped up to fill the void on every occasion.”
Lieutenant General Cheryl Pearce of Australia has brought to her current position more than 35 years of military experience, including a number of roles in United Nations peace operations. Prior to her current appointment, Lieutenant General Pearce served as the Deputy Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations and has also served as the Force Commander of United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus from 2019 to 2021. She was a Military Observer with the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor in 2002. “My visit to MINURSO brought back many memories of my own time as a UN military observer, which had been my initial introduction to what we at the UN do for peace and security. I want to thank all our personnel for their work serving their nations under the UN flag. Please know that your everyday commitment and sense of purpose are recognized and make the implementation of our mandate possible.”
