Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Shailesh Tinaikar, SM, VSM (born 1962), is a retired

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four ...

officer who served as the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the second biggest peacekeeping operation. He served from 24 May 2019 to January 2022. He was appointed by

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Secretary-General

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...

to succeed Lieutenant General

Frank Mushyo Kamanzi Lieutenant General Frank Mushyo Kamanzi is the current Rwandan Ambassador to Russia, having been appointed on November 29, 2019. He was previously the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, being was appointed on 11 April 201 ...

of Rwanda. Prior to that, he served as the Commandant of the Indian Army Infantry School. He is the recipient of the

Sena Medal The Sena Medal is awarded to members of the Indian army, of all ranks, "for such individual acts of exceptional devotion to duty or courage as have special significance for the Army." Awards may be made posthumously and a bar is authorized for s ...

and the

Vishisht Seva Medal The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) is a decoration of the Indian Armed Forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces. From 1980, the Yudh Seva Medal was introduced to recognize exc ...

for distinguished service.

Early life and education

Tinaikar graduated from the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy in 1983. He received an MPhil in

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

and strategic studies from The University of Madras.

Career

Tinaikar was commissioned into the elite

10 PARA (SF) 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. He appointed the Commandant of the Infantry School in July 2018. he held the position of Additional Director General of Military Operations at the Army Headquarters from 2017 to 2018. He commanded a division, a recruit training centre and a brigade from 2012 to 2017. Tinaikar served in the United Nations Angola Verification Mission III from 1996 to 1997 and, from 2008 to 2009, he served in the United Nations Mission in Sudan. On 24 May 2019, Tinaikar was appointed as the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) by

Secretary-General

Honours and decorations

References

Indian officials of the United Nations Living people Recipients of the Sena Medal Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal Indian Military Academy alumni University of Madras alumni Para Commandos Indian Army officers 1962 births {{UN-bio-stub