Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz, Head of Mission and Force Commander.

On 28 February 2022, Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz (Spain) took over the command as Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, succeeding Major General Stefano Del Col (Italy).

General Lázaro has had a long and distinguished career in the Spanish Army since 1986, when he was commissioned as Lieutenant (Infantry). He has held multiple command positions, from platoon leader to Infantry Brigade Commander.

As a Staff Officer, he served at the Spanish Army Training and Doctrine Command; at the European Rapid Operational Force (EUROFOR) Headquarters in the Italian city of Florence; at the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Spain (HQ NRDC-ESP) Headquarters in Valencia; and as Chief of Staff of the Spanish Army X Mechanized Brigade “Guzmán el Bueno” in Córdoba. As Brigadier General, he was also appointed Commander of this brigade.

His last assignment was as Adviser to the Ministry of Defence for Defence and Security cross-cutting affairs in Madrid.

Read More >>

Mr. Hervé Lecoq, a national of France, is the Deputy Head of Mission and the Director of Division for Political and Civil Affairs (DPCA). Mr. Lecog brings over 30 years of experience in peace operations, political affairs and development. Before joining UNIFIL, Mr. Lecoq has served as Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations from 2019 to 2023.  

 Mr. Lecoq held various positions in the former Department of Peacekeeping Operations, including as team leader for the Great Lakes, then for Europe, Latin America, and Asia, and as senior special assistant to the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. Mr. Lecoq served in peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Haiti (after the 2010 earthquake).  He also occupied various functions for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in Ankara and New York, and for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cairo and Jerusalem.  

He holds a master’s degree in agro-economics (Diplôme d'Ingénieur Agronome) from AgroParisTech, France.  He is fluent in French and English.

Maj Gen Chok Bahadur Dhakal (Nepal) was deployed in UNIFIL as the Deputy Force Commander on 02 Dec 2022. Having more than 35 years of illustrious military career in the Nepali Army, Maj Gen Chok has held various command appointments ranging from a Company Commander to Battalion & Brigade Commander and the Commandant of Peacekeeping Operations Training School. Prior to his deployment in UNIFIL as the DFC, he was Military Assistant to Chief of the Army Staff, Nepali Army.

Ms. Melva Crouch, UNIFIL Director of Mission Support (DMS), has 38 years of extensive experience as a Logistics and Administration Manager in complex organizations. She commenced her career with the Australian Army as a Logistics Officer, serving for 23 years in a variety of Army and Joint Defence roles culminating with the position of Head of Logistics and Administration at Joint Operations Command at the rank of Colonel.

Her military service included deployment with the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) for the 1993 elections.

Ms. Crouch first joined the United Nations in 2001, subsequently providing logistic support to peacekeeping missions in Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Western Sahara. After five years in the field, she moved to New York as the Chief of Specialist Support Services with the Department of Field Support; in this role she provided strategic support to all peacekeeping and political missions, and led field missions to Ivory Coast, Liberia, Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan. She then held the position of Director of Facilities and Commercial Services Division in the Department of Management, managing the office and conference facilities of the United Nations Headquarters and providing common support functions to the Secretariat.

Prior to being appointed as DMS, Ms. Crouch spent six years on the core Executive team of the University of Wollongong in Australia as Chief Administrative Officer.

Mr. Roy A. Joblin has enjoyed a career both in the government and private sectors of New Zealand and including over 30 years of progressive responsibilities in UN peacekeeping including diverse experience in United Nations Headquarters (New York), UNLB (Italy) and field missions including Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Syria.

On 01 July 2018 Mr. Joblin took up a new role as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Chief, Operations and Resource Management (CORM). The CORM unifies strategic and cross-cutting mission support functions with a view to ensuring coherence in forecasting, performance monitoring, planning, and coordination related to operational and resourcing activities.

 He has been the UNIFIL Acting Director of the Mission Support Division for 1.5 years leading a team of 754 UN personnel and military officers supporting the Mission in all administrative, technical and logistical aspects.

He is currently UNIFIL’s Principal Coordination Officer, directly advising and supporting the Head of Mission & Force Commander in carrying out cross-cutting responsibilities spanning all mission components of UNIFIL (military, political and civil affairs, and mission support) with a view to enhancing the integrated and coherent functioning of the Force. This support focuses on the core mechanisms and processes that enable the integrated delivery of the Force’s mandate, in particular strategic mission planning as it relates to cross-cutting aspects, policy coordination, and senior- level decision-making.

In addition to numerous ICT technical diplomas, Mr. Joblin also holds a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) and a Graduate Diploma in Management (GDip Management). Mr. Joblin is married with four children.

On 07 July 2023, Maj Gen Cédric du Gardin (France) took over the command as Chief of Staff and chief of the military pillar of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, on behalf of Force commander.

Maj Gen Cédric du Gardin has a long and distinguished career in the French Army since 1992, when he was commissioned as Lieutenant (Infantry). He has held multiple positions, from platoon leader to commander of the 1st Tirailleurs Regiment, Epinal. As a staff officer, he served at the Infantry school in Montpellier as chief of “prospectives studies”; at the 1st Mechanized Brigade as B3 chief in Châlons-en-Champagne and at 2nd Armoured Brigade as chief of staff then deputy commander, Strasbourg. As colonel, he has also been appointed in the Army Operation staff in Paris as DCOS-OPS. As Brigadier General in 2020, he commanded the specialized training centers of the French Army. His last assignment was commander of the 7th Armoured Brigade from 2021 to 2023, Besancon.

He is graduated of the Senior staff college and followed the 12th promotion of the Joint College of Defence, Paris.

Maj Gen Cédric du Gardin has extensive operational and international experience, including 14 tours of duty:

- Lebanon (UNIFIL) as platoon leader, 1995;
- Ivory Coast, 1997;
- Senegal, as Inf COY Cder, 1998;
- Kosovo (Operation TRIDENT) as Inf COY Cder 2000, and 2001;
- Cameroon, 2006;
- Lebanon (UNIFIL II), twice as head of operations, 2007 and 2009;
- Ivory Coast (Operation LICORNE), as MA of FC, 2010-2011;
- Lebanon (UNIFIL II), as FCR Cder, 2011;
- Tchad (Operation EPERVIER), as BAT Cder, 2013;
- Central African Republic (Operation SANGARIS), as COS, 2014;
- Mali, ATF EUTM Cder, 2016;
- Romania, as NATO Brigade Forward Command Elements Cder, 2023.

He was born in 1968 in Burgundy. In addition to French, Maj Gen Cédric du Gardin speaks English and Russian. His main passions are rugby, music and wine. He is married and has 3 sons and a daughter, aged 17 to 25.

Mr. Albagir Adam, a national of USA, has served as the Service Chief of Civil Affairs of UNIFIL since 2012.

Mr. Adam has enjoyed a long career in the United Nations system, having served in various missions and agencies in different capacities. Chief among them, United Nations Economic Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA), United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Angola, Albania, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Kosovo, South Africa and Sudan.

Mr. Adam holds a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) and a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences (Genetics). He also completed the post-graduate studies in Environmental Management.

Ms. Joanna Nathan assumed her current post of Chief of Political Affairs in UNIFIL in 2022. The team provides political advice in support of the peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon and serves as secretariat for the Tripartite mechanism, a unique forum for coordination between the two parties along the Blue Line. Ms. Nathan was previously Deputy Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza (2019-22) supporting education, health and food assistance for over one million refugees amidst the Covid pandemic. With UNAMA she worked in electoral affairs (2010-12) and headed the Special Representative's office in Afghanistan (2013-15) and a liaison office in Iran (2015-18). Outside the UN, Ms. Nathan was the International Crisis Group representative in Afghanistan (2005-09) and Principal Adviser in establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into State response to the 2010-11 earthquakes in her native New Zealand (2019). She holds a master's degree in public policy (Princeton, 2010) and Human Rights Law (Oxford, 2020). 

Mr. Rajesh Chadha, a national of India, has served as the Chief of Service Delivery Management in UNIFIL since December 2023.

Mr. Chadha previously served in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) as Chief of Service Delivery Management since December 2016.

Mr. Chadha started his career in the Indian Army as a Commissioned Military Officer before retiring as a Lt. Colonel in 2007. He then joined Peacekeeping Operations where he served in key logistic roles in the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC); United Nations Mission in Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT); United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH); United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

Mr. Chadha brings solid UN experience in planning and coordinating logistics support, resource planning and support delivery.

Mr. Xiaohai Shi is Chief of Operations and Resource Management in the Mission Support Division.

A national of China, he joined the United Nations in 1999, and has since served in various administrative and managerial capacities both at New York headquarters and in field missions. In NYHQ, he worked as Finance and Budget Officer, Administrative Officer and Process Experts in the in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and Umoja project team.

In the field missions, he had served in the Capacity of Acting Chief Budget Officer (UNAMA, Afghanistan), Chief of Payment Unit (UNAMID, Darfur, Sudan), Chief Finance and Budget Officer (MINUSCA, Central African Republic) and Chief of Operations and Resource Management (UNAMI, Iraq).

He is an experienced practitioner in finance, budget, human resources, and administration areas. He holds a master’s degree in business administration.