Laâyoune, 27 September 2012, Special Representative for Western Sahara awards UN Medal to the Force

On 27 September, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara and Head of Mission, Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber, awarded Force Commander, Major General Abdul Hafiz, along with twelve other military personnel, the United Nations Medal for their service in MINURSO.

The Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Major General Abdul Hafiz as the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara on 23 July 2011. Major-General Hafiz, previously served as the Commanding Officer of an infantry division in the Bangladesh Army. He has served two tours with UN operations in Côte d'Ivoire, including one as the Deputy Force Commander. He also served as a military liaison officer with the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) and as the chief military liaison officer in Zagreb, Croatia.
The Head of Mission chaired the ceremony held at MINURSO Headquarters in Laayoune, where the recipients from various troop contributing countries, namely Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, France, Ghana, Honduras and Pakistan, were honoured.
The United Nations Medal is presented to the military and police personnel serving in joint international military and police operations such as peacekeeping, humanitarian efforts, and disaster relief.