Bansi Ponnappa

This article is about the Indian UN Peacekeeper. For the WWII Personnel, see C B Ponnappa.

C B (Bansi) Ponnappa
Brigadier General C B Ponnappa photographed in the Congo in August 2013
Allegiance	India United Nations
Service/branch	Indian Army
Rank	Brigadier
Commands held	North Kivu Brigade (NKB) of MONUSCO
Battles/wars	M23 rebellion

Brigadier general C. B. Bansi Ponnappa is an Indian military officer and UN peacekeeper. He is known for his role as commander of the United Nations' MONUSCO forces in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the M23 rebellion.

Indian Army

Ponnappa is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy. He was previously Commander of Shakti Vijay Brigade in Jammu and Kashmir in 2012. As a representative of the Indian army he had flagged off an educational cum motivational tour under Operation Sadhbhavana in Tangdar area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.^[1]

UN Peacekeeping

Later in 2012 he was sent to Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of India's UN Peacekeeping force. He was made MONUSCO's North Kivu Brigade (NKB) Commander and addressed as 'Brigadier General'. During the M23 rebellion in North Kivu the UN Peacekeepers secured the airport and maintained status quo while the security responsibilities of Goma was shared between the police deployment, the formed police of MONUSCO and the MONUSCO military.^[2]^[3]

Ponnappa served under Brazilian Lt. General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz who succeeded India's Chander Prakash as Force Commander of MONUSCO in March 2013.^[4] Under his command, North Kivu Brigade were blamed for not stopping the M23 rebel group from marching into Goma. In fact, M23 passed right beside Munigi Hill which was occupied by NKB.

In 2013, the Indian Army planned and implemented a water treatment plant at Otobora, a Congolese village in Walikale, D R Congo, with MONUSCO's approval. The facility was inaugurated by Brigadier General C B Ponnappa on 4 October 2014.^[5]

Gallery

MONUSCO NKB commander, Brigadier General C B Ponnappa, briefs members of UN Security Council as they visit the front line in Kibati near Goma from where the M23 rebels have been recently defeated, the 6th of October 2013. © MONUSCO
NKB commander, Brigadier General C B Ponnappa and FC Gen. Santos Cruz in the trenches of Munigi hill, the 22nd of August 2013. © MONUSCO
FC Gen. Santos Cruz, NKB commander, Brigadier General C B Ponnappa and FIB commander James Aloizi Mwakibolwa in the trenches of Munigi hill, the 22nd of August 2013 © MONUSCO
MONUSCO NKB commander, Brigadier General C B Ponnappa, briefs members of UN Security Council as they visit the front line in Kibati near Goma from where the M23 rebels have been recently defeated, the 6th of October 2013. © MONUSCO

References

↑ "Army flags off educational tour". 25 August 2012. Rashid Makhdoomi. Greater Kashmir. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
↑ "Congo: UN peacekeepers patrol conflict-hit Goma". Beyond Dimensions Television. BDTV. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
↑ "DR CONGO / GOMA PEACEKEEPERS". MONUSCO (United Nations). UNIFEED. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
↑ "Secretary-General Appoints Lieutenant General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz". United Nations. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
↑ IMQ in Indian Army. "Indian Army Provides Treated Water to Congolese Village (October 7, 2013)". Indian Military Quotes. Retrieved 9 September 2014.

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