UN appoints first woman commander

For the first time, a woman will command a UN peacekeeping force, after Norway's Major General Kristin Lund was appointed to lead troops in Cyprus. Maj Gen Lund, 55, has a distinguished military career going back 34 years and including postings in Lebanon and Afghanistan, a UN statement said. She will replace China's Major General Chao Liu on 13 August. In Cyprus, she will command 996 soldiers and police officers as well as 149 civilian staff. The island has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the north in response to a military coup on the island which was backed by the government of Greece. Since then, the northern third has been mainly inhabited by Turkish Cypriots and the southern two-thirds by Greek Cypriots, according to BBC.