“This is a clear recognition of our increased focus on the UN and further proof that the organisation welcomes Norway’s strengthened involvement. Norway wishes not only to raise the level of its participation but also to contribute to the restructuring process in which the UN is currently engaged and in which one of the central themes concerns changing and developing the UN’s operational concepts and doctrine,” comments Defence Minister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen.

In his position as Deputy Military Adviser, Maj Gen Five will have responsibilities which include the provision of military advice to the Head of DPKO as well as to force commanders engaged in the UN’s 18 peacekeeping operations round the world in which more than 70,000 soldiers are currently involved. Maj Gen Five will also have a central role in the shaping of military contributions to new peace operations.

Major General Five was born in Trondheim in 1958 and his present appointment is Commander, Army Transformation and Doctrine Command. Maj Gen Five has been selected on merit for this prestigious post by virtue of his solid military education and wide-ranging military career. He has attended military schools and academies both in Norway and abroad, including the Army Staff College (1994), the US Army Command and General Staff College (1997) and the US War College (2003). Maj Gen Five has wide experience at the relevant levels of the Norwegian defence organisation and served for a period as Acting Head of Defence Policy and Long Term Planning in the Ministry of Defence. Maj Gen Five also has extensive experience of peacekeeping operations having served in both UN and NATO led operations in Lebanon and Kosovo, most recently as Commander of the Norwegian battalions in KFOR in the year 2000.

For further information and interviews, please contact Erling Kristiansen, tel: 99096892