United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 28 October 2021 the appointment of Major General Patrick Gauchat of Switzerland as Head of Mission and Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO).Ìý He succeeds Major General Kristin Lund of Norway to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedicated service.Ìý The Secretary-General also thanks Alan Doyle for serving as Acting Head of Mission of UNTSO.
Major General Gauchat brings 27 years of experience in working at the national and international levels, including a military career serving his Government and the United Nations in leadership positions, notably as Senior Military Liaison Officer at the United Nations Headquarters in New York (2014-2016), Deputy Chief of Staff of UNTSO (2011-2013) as well as UNTSO Military Observer in the Observer Group Golan and Liaison Officer in the UNTSO Liaison Office in Egypt (2000).Ìý
Major General Gauchat was most recently Head of the Swiss Delegation to the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Panmunjom, Korea (2017-2021) and Deputy Commander of 1st Territorial Division, Swiss Army (2016-2017).Ìý He also served as Commander of the Northern Sector for KFOR (Joint Regional Detachment North) in Kosovo (2013-2014), as Deputy Commander 10th Mountain Infantry Brigade (2014-2015), Swiss Army and as Battalion Commander in the mountain infantry, including several positions as Chief of Operations, Swiss Army.
Major General Gauchat holds a Master of Science degree (Engineering) from the Ecole Politechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.Ìý He is fluent in English, French, German and Spanish.
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