Uruguayan Maj Gen appointed new head of UNMOGIP

Maj Gen Gloodtdofsky, 58, will replace Maj Gen Kim Moon Hwa of South Korea, who completed his assignment on November 27, 2010, as the Chief Military Observer of UNMOGIP, a world body statement said yesterday.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised Kim for his exemplary and highly professional service in UNMOGIP over the past two years. According to the UN statement, Maj Gen Gloodtdofsky will bring to his new position extensive and wide-ranging experience, including significant command expertise and prior service in United Nations peacekeeping.

Gloodtdofsky, who joined the Uruguayan Army in 1972, is currently serving as Commander of Division III of the Uruguayan Army. He has held a number of important military positions.

In 2009, he was appointed Director of the National Centre for Higher Studies and Chairman of the Army Qualification Commission, and, in 2006, Senior Military Adviser to the President and Chief of the 'Casa Militar'.

He also served, in 2005, as Chief of Personal Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Uruguayan Army and Acting Deputy Commander of the Army Strategic Reserve Units and prior to that as Deputy Director of the National Centre for Strategic Studies and Deputy Director of the Army War College.

In addition, from September 2006 to November 2007, Gloodtdofsky served as Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and in 1991 as a Military Observer in UNMOGIP.

He was also the Military Adviser of the Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the United Nations in New York in 2001-2003.

Gloodtdofsky attended the Military Academy in Uruguay and subsequently obtained a master's degree in National Strategy from the National Centre for Higher Studies in Uruguay.