Major General Kristin Lund of Norway was appointed as Force Commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 12 May 2014.

Major General Lund has had a distinguished career, with more than 34 years of military command and staff experience at the national and international levels. As a Brigadier General, she served as Deputy Commander of the Norwegian Army Forces Command from 2007 to 2009. In 2009, she became the first Norwegian female officer promoted to the rank of Major General, and was appointed Chief of Staff of the Norwegian Home Guard. In 2014, she was appointed to the Norwegian Defence Staff as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Veteran Affairs.

Her previous experience with the United Nations includes service with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Bosnia. Major General Lund has extensive experience in multinational operations, including deployment to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s SFOR in the Balkans and ISAF Headquarters in Afghanistan.

Major General Lund graduated from the Norwegian Defence Command and Staff College, the Norwegian Defence University College and the United States Army War College, where she earned a Master of Strategic Studies degree.

Born in 1958, she is the first woman ever to command a United Nations peacekeeping operation.

UNFICYP Force Commander history