Lieutenant General Xavier Bout de Marnhac
Commander of KFOR
(KFOR, DPA, Euronews, B92, Xinhua, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network) |
French Lieutenant General Xavier Bout de Marnhac took up his post the KFOR commander on August 31st 2007, succeeding German Lieutenant General Roland Kather. He is the 12th commander of the NATO-led peacekeeping force since its deployment in Kosovo in June 1999.
De Marnhac was born on July 7th, 1951, in Trier, Germany. He was commissioned through the French military academy of Saint-Cyr in 1971, and chose to serve in the Armour and Cavalry branch.
As lieutenant, and then captain, he served in two different light armored regiments and commanded a reconnaissance company in the 4th Hussars regiment. As colonel, he commanded the 6/12 Cuirassiers (tank) regiment. For four years he was special operations forces team leader in the 1st Marine infantry airborne regiment.
Between 1993 and 1996, de Marnhac was the intelligence advisor to the French defence minister. Three years later, he joined the French intelligence agency (DGSE), serving initially as deputy director, and then from 2000 to 2004 as director for operations.
De Marnhac has served in missions in many parts of the world -- Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He completed two assignments in Germany and a one-year command and general staff course in the United States.
De Marnhac was promoted to brigadier general in 2001, to major general in 2005 and to lieutenant general in 2007.
In 2005, he was appointed as the commander of the deployable force headquarters No 2 in Nantes, in western France, where he served until August 2007. Meanwhile, he spent from August 2005 to February 2006 in Kosovo, as deputy commander of KFOR.
De Marnhac takes the post of KFOR commander at a critical phase in the internationally-sponsored talks on the province's future. He took over from Kather during a handover ceremony in Film City, in Pristina, presided by United States Navy Admiral H.G. Ulrich III, Commander Allied Joint Force Command Naples.
De Marnhac pledged that the 16,000 NATO peacekeepers under his command would ensure that there is peace in Kosovo throughout the negotiations and following their expected end on December 10th.
"It's not my role to speculate regarding the political process, but in case that the security situation is threatened we have plans and according to the needs we will make use of them," he said.
De Marnhac is married and has five daughters and four grandchildren.
