President Describes Late Major General Vib Sanziri As an Accomplished Soldier

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday visited the bereaved wife and family of the late Major-General Francis Vib-Sanziri, to mourn with them at her residence at Michel Camp, Tema.

The bereaved wife, COP Beatrice Vib-Sanziri is a Commissioner of Police.

The late Maj Gen Vib-Sanziri passed on in his hotel room in Eilat, Israel on Good Friday April 19, 2019. His mortal remains arrived in the country on Saturday, April 27, at 22:00 GMT.

President Akufo-Addo said reports he had received from the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, indicated that the late Major-General Vib-Sanziri was really a fine and professional soldier who distinguished himself creditably.

"Our nation has lost a fine, dedicated, professional military officer, who served his country and the global community with distinction. He was, certainly, a distinguished military career," he added.

The President extended his heartfelt condolences to the widow, Commissioner of Police Beatrice Vib-Sanziri, her children and family.

He sympathised with the widow for her great loss and said "I am here to let you know that your grieve is not bound by you alone but shared by the nation Ghana."

In situations like this, he told the widow, "it gives us the opportunity to renew our faith with our maker," and that whoever you are "the President, a Minister, a soldier" we will all depart one day depart from this earth.

President Akufo-Addo presented to the family, cartoons of bottled water and assorted drinks and an undisclosed cash amount and signed the book of condolences.

The Minister of Defence, Mr Dominic Ntiwul, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Shirley Ayokor Botchwey and the Minister of the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, accompanied the President to mourn with the bereaved wife.

Also with the delegation was the Chief of Defense Staff, Major- General Obed Akwa, the Inspector-General of Police, David Asante Apeatu, and representative of both the Military High Command and the Police High Command.

Major-General Obed Akwa said the Ministry of Defence and GAF, in consultation with the family of the deceased, and with the approval of the President, would plan a befitting funeral burial rites for the departed soul.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has consoled the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the entire country, on the sudden death of Major General Francis Vib-Sanziri, the Ghanaian Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).

In a telephone conversation with President Akufo-Addo on Friday, 19th April 2019, António Guterres described the late Major General Francis Vib-Sanziri as a fine military officer, who distinguished himself with distinction.

About Major General Vib-Sanziri

Since joining the Ghanaian Armed Forces in 1985, Maj. Gen. Vib-Sanziri had a distinguished military career at national and international levels.

He served as Director-General of the International Peace Support Operations at the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces since April 2017, and also as an Assistant Director, Ghana Army Operations (1996-1998), Deputy Head of the Ghana Military Academy (2002-2004), Commanding Officer of an Infantry Battalion (2004-2009), Director for International Peacekeeping Support Operations in 2009 and Army Secretary at the Army Headquarters (2010-2011).

In 2014, he was appointed Director-General for Joint Operations, General Headquarters. He served as Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organization from 2015 to 2017.

Major General Vib-Sanziri's extensive peacekeeping experience includes deployments to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 1988 and 1991, United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) in 1993 and 1994 and the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in 2007.

He also served with the Economic Community of West Africa States Monitoring Group in Liberia in 1990, in Sierra Leone, in 1999 and 2000, and, subsequently, with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). From 2011 to 2014, he served as a strategic military planner in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the United Nations.

Major General Vib-Sanziri holds a master's degree in military art and science from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, in the United States, a post-graduate certificate in public administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography and rural resource development from the University of Ghana.

He is a graduate of the Nigerian Armed Forces Command and General Staff College, Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College and the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Source: ISD (Rex Mainoo Yeboah)

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