Brig.-Gen Blay Named OAU Envoy in Ethiopia-Eritrea Military Commission

OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim Monday appointed Brig.-Gen. Peter Augustine Blay of the Ghana Armed Forces as the OAU's representative on the Military Co-ordination Commission (MCC) for Ethiopia-Eritrea, a press release from the OAU said.

The Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which both parties signed in June in Algiers, Algeria, made provisions for the establishment of the MCC as one of the main instruments for facilitating the functions of the peacekeeping mission.

The MCC is also to help in co-ordinating and resolving issues related to the work of the Peacekeeping mission and dealing with military issues arising during the implementation of the agreement.

Under the agreement, the force commander of the UNMEE chairs the commission, established jointly by the UN and the OAU, with representation from the parties as well as the OAU Liaison Mission in Ethiopia-Eritrea (OLMEE).

The OAU has already established offices of the OLMEE in Addis Ababa and Asmara, currently functional with the presence of Military Liaison Officers and communication personnel, the release said.

Blay, 53, is a veteran infantry officer of the Ghana Army with 30 years distinguished military service.

He is a graduate of the Ghana Military Academy and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in the United Kingdom, and the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Accra, as well as the Army war College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania in the US.

Blay has served within the UN interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) as a Company Commander l982-1983, and again in 1987-88 as the Personnel Staff Officer to the Chief of Staff of the UNIFIL headquarters.

He also served as military observer of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia 1992-1993.

Prior to that, he was a General Staff Officer at the Directorate of International Peacekeeping Operations at the General Headquarters (Ghana) 1988-1989.

Blay had commanded the First Infantry Battalion, the Jungle Warfare School and the Army Combat Training School of the Ghana Army.

Until his appointment to the MCC, he was the Director for Research and Development at the General Headquarters of the Ghana Armed Force.