UN appoints Norwegian general as first woman peacekeeping commander

UNITED NATIONS: Maj. Gen. Kristin Lund (55) will replace Chinese Maj. Gen. Chao Liu as commander of close to 1,000 UN peacekeepers in Cyprus on 13 August.

The Norwegian general, who was appointed by Secretary-General ban Ki-Moon, is the first woman to command a UN peacekeeping force. Lund has previously served in Lebanon, the first Gulf War, Bosnia and Afghanistan.

Lund said she’s been to Cyprus several times and is looking forward to the challenges of her new job — maintaining the cease-fire and supporting efforts to deal with minefields, unaccounted people, and property disputes, among other issues. Cyprus has been divided into a Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south since 1974 and recently, talks have resumed to reunite the Mediterranean island.

Lund told the Associated Press (AP) that she’s proud to crack the glass ceiling in UN peacekeeping.

“I think it’s time, and I think it’s important that other women see that it’s possible also in the UN system to get up in the military hierarchy to become a force commander,” said Lund.

Lund joined the Norwegian army in 1979 and went on her first overseas mission in 1986 as a transport officer with the UN peacekeeping mission to Lebanon. She said it was there that she fell in love with the UN and learned that “maybe the most important weapon that you have is communication and to build relations.”

It was also both fascinating and challenging to work with so many people from different countries and cultures, she said. As a major general, Lund said, “you have to be a thinker and a doer, but I’m probably more a doer.”

Lund had said that before she retired, she wished to go overseas again. When she was asked by the Ministry of Defense whether she would be interested in becoming a UN peacekeeping force commander, “I said yes, I love the UN.”

AP