02:48 p.m Nov 16, 1999 Eastern
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - A Ghanaian officer, Maj. Gen. Seth Kofi Obeng, will be appointed commander of the 4,500-member U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the United Nations said on Tuesday.
He will take up his new post on Dec. 1, succeeding Maj. Gen. Jioje Konousi Konrote of Fiji, who completed a two-year tour of duty on Sept. 30.
Obeng, 54, joined the Ghanaian Armed Forces in 1965. He has served as chief of staff and has been commandant of the staff college.
He has had extensive peacekeeping experience, including as deputy commander of the Economic Community of West African States' Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Liberia from 1994 to 1996 and as force commander of the U.N. Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) from 1998 to 1999.
UNIFIL was established in 1978 to restore the Lebanese government's authority over the southern part of the country after an Israeli incursion against Palestinian guerrillas.
Israel withdrew its troops following a 1982 invasion but, aided by its militia allies of the South Lebanon Army, still maintains a ``security zone'' along the Lebanese side of the border to block attacks against northern Israel.
Frequent clashes occur involving Israeli and SLA troops and guerrillas, mainly from the Iranian-backed Hizbollah movement.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who took office in July, has pledged that Israeli troops would be out of southern Lebanon within a year, whether or not peace accords are concluded with Lebanon and Syria, which has about 30,000 troops stationed in Lebanon.
UNIFIL includes troops from Fiji, Finland, France, Ghana, India, Ireland, Italy, Nepal and Poland.
