The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has approved the appointment of Nigeria’s Major General Benjamin Olufemi Sawyerr as the Force Commander, United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, (UNISFA).
General Sawyerr also has a Temporary Appointment as Special Adviser to the Office of the Military Affairs Department of Peace Operations of the UN.
The UNISFAi is a United Nations peacekeeping force in Abyei, an area being contested between the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan.
The approval for Sawyerr’s appointment was issued Tuesday February 1, 2022.
However, as part of the schedule, he is presently at UN Headquarters, New York but is expected to leave for Abyei to assume Command of UNISFA from March 15, 2022.
He takes over from Major General Kefyalew Amde Tessema of Ethiopia as UNISFA Force Commander.
Former Aide De Camps (ADCs) to Lieutenant General TY Danjuma (rtd), former Minister of Defence and former ECOMOG Force Commander, late Brigadier General Olatunji Olurin, General Sawyer is a member of the 27 Short Service Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
He obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Master of Science Degree in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Magravs, Defence Services Staff College Alex in India.
General Sawyer is a Fellow, National Defence College, Abuja.
He was Commanding Officer, 231 Battalion, Biu, Commanding Officer, Nigerian Battalion 22 United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Commanding Officer, 22 Brigade, Ilorin, Deputy Director of Doctrine and Combat Development from 2017 to 2018 and later Director of Plans, Department of Army Policy and Plans, Nigerian Army Headquarters between 2019 and 2020.
He was Commandant, Nigeria Armour School, Bauchi before his appointment as Director of Defence Information in July 2021. It is noteworthy that General Sawyer’s short stay as Director of Defence Information witnessed great improvement in Military-Media Relations.
The UNISFA Peacekeeping Force in Abyei was approved on 27 June 2011 by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in Resolution 1990 after a flare-up in the South Kordofan conflict earlier in June 2011.
Abyei is an area of 10,546 km2 on the border between Sudan and South Sudan. It has been accorded “Special Administrative Status” by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War.