Leadership

Major General Diodato Abagnara, Head of Mission and Force Commander.

On 24 June 2025, Major General Diodato Abagnara (Italy) took over the command as Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, succeeding Lt. General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz (Spain).

An accomplished leader, Major General Abagnara brings extensive experience with UNIFIL and south Lebanon to his role. Prior to his appointment, he served as Commander and Chairman of the Military Technical Committee for Lebanon (2024-2025), where he oversaw multinational coordination efforts in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces.

He previously served with UNIFIL as Sector West Commander (2018-2019) and Italian Battalion Commander (2008-2009). During these deployments, he built strong relationships with local communities and developed a deep understanding of the operational situation in the south.

 

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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. Lecoq 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.

Major General Man Bahadur Mahara (Nepal) was deployed in the UNIFIL mission as the Deputy Force Commander (DFC) on 02 March 2025. He brings over three and a half decades of the Military Experience to this role.

Throughout his distinguished career, Major General Mahara has held a variety of command and staff appointments, including successful commands at the Company, Battalion and Brigade levels. His staff experience includes, serving as the Director of the Human Rights Directorate, and the Plans and Policy Directorate of the Nepali Army. Prior to his deployment to the UNIFIL as DFC, he served as the Military Secretary to the Chief of the Army Staff, Nepali Army.

Major General Mahara has extensive and wide-ranging experience in UN Peace Operations worldwide. He served as a Platoon Commander in UNIFIL (1996), as a Company Commander in MONUC (2005), as a Staff Officer in UNMIL (2008), as a Battalion Commander in UNMISS (2012) and as a Military Observer in UNISFA (2015).

He has undergone numerous Professional Military Training Courses and has participated in Seminars and Workshops both at home and abroad. As an alumnus of several prestigious military institutions, he has completed the Army Command & Staff Course, the Higher Command & Management Course, the Senior Defence Management Course, the National Security and War Course, and the Business Planning Course. Additionally, he has participated in Stabilization and Peace Support Operations Training and the Multinational Planning Augmentation Team (MPAT) program.

Major General Mahara holds Master’s Degrees in Political Science from Tribhuvan University.

He is married and is blessed with a son and a daughter.

Mr. Xiaohai Shi, Acting Director of Mission Support (DMS) and Chief of Operations and Resource (CORM).

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). Mr. Shi joined UNIFIL in August 2021 as Chief ORM. He is an experienced practitioner in finance, budget, human resources, and administration areas. He holds a master’s degree in business administration.

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.

Major General Paul Sanzey (France), UNIFIL Chief of Staff

Deployed overseas eight times, he served at the Centre for Planning and Conduct of Operations, as head of J3- Land.

Military Advisor in the Minister of Defence until 2013, he contributed to the restructuring of the  Army and the usage of the Armed Forces on National Domestic Territory.

Deployed in 2014, he commanded Operation Licorne in Ivory Coast before being posted to War College as a Professor.

Tasked with Human Resources Affairs in 2016, then as head of Human Resource Policy, he steered the refurbishment of the careers of the Officer.

After commanding the 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade, he was in charge of Military Sport, Training of Military Physical Training specialists and the reconstruction of wounded personnel through sport. He commanded the National Defence Sports Centre. He represented the Armed Forces at the International Military Sports Council.

On July 2025, he took over the command as COS of the UNIFIL.

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.