Brazilian General Otávio Rodrigues, new commander of the peace mission in the Congo

Major General Otávio Rodrigues de Miranda Filho, of the Brazilian Army, was chosen by the Secretary General of the United Nations to be the new military commander of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Monusco), in replacement of Major General Marcos de Sá Affonso da Costa.

Since April 2013, this is the fifth time that Monusco has had a Brazilian commander.

With more than 40 years of service, Rodrigues, who until now held the position of Commander of the 8th Military Region, had already joined the UN UNMIS mission in South Sudan, as a military observer and member of the Commander’s General Staff of said mission.

When he takes office in March 2023, the new commander will have a staff of approximately 15,000 military personnel, drawn from some 50 UN troop-contributing countries.

PEACE MISSION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), located in the central region of the African continent, has serious social problems and several armed conflicts. Despite being one of the largest countries in the world in area and having numerous natural resources, its human development index is very low, while infant mortality is very high.

The main objectives of Monusco are the protection of civilians, the facilitation of humanitarian aid and the disarmament of demobilized combatants and, in this year of 2023, support for the holding of elections in December.

With information from Infodefensa

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