On 30 March 2023, MINURSO held a farewell military parade in honour of the Acting Force Commander Major General Chowdhury Md Main Ullah (Bangladesh), who is leaving MINURSO after serving the Mission during a critical period of three months marked by exceptional challenges.
The Ceremony took place at the Mission’s Headquarters in Laayoune in the presence of SRSG and Head of MINURSO Alexander Ivanko, the Chief of Mission Support Veneranda Mukandoli-Jefferson, the Mission Chief of Staff, Nick Birnback, as well as members of MINURSO’s military and civilian personnel.
When asked about the key moments of his time in MINURSO, Major General Md. Main Ullah stated in particular that, for all the challenges facing the Mission during this period, he is proud of many of its accomplishments, large and small. While the memorable moments are too many to recount, the accomplishment that he was most proud of both personally and on behalf of the Mission as a whole during his service in MINURSO was the undertaking of the logistical administrative movement (LAM) convoy. By working together in a coordinated fashion, the Mission was able to come together as one, overcome obstacles, and by doing so was able to set the spirit for the way forward. As he leaves the Mission, the outgoing Force Commander wishes all staff to continue to live and work in accordance with the “5Hs”-- harmony, happiness, honesty, honour, and help from one to another.
Major General Md. Main Ullah Chowdhury has brought to MINURSO more than 36 years of a distinguished military career in the Bangladesh Army as well as in UN peacekeeping. He had previously served in United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) at its very initial stage of peacebuilding, and more recently, as the Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Within his own military, he had actively participated in the operation called “Desert Shield” as well as in the “Desert Storm” operation as a member of the contingent that formed part of the international coalition forces to liberate Kuwait during Gulf War-I in 1990-1991.
Major General Main is a graduate of Defense Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) Mirpur, Dhaka, and completed a Master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the United States of America’s Army War College (USAWC) in addition to obtaining a Master's degree in Defense Studies from the National University of Bangladesh.
We wish the outgoing Acting Force Commander all the best in his future appointments, and thank him for his dedicated service during a critical period for MINURSO.
More photos from the event: Flickr album