Transfer of authority of Multinational Taskforce North

In his speech, Deputy Commander of KFOR Major General STOLTZ expressed his gratitude to Brigade General MATHEY for his personal commitment in handling all tasks. He fully succeeded in maintaining a safe and secure environment in the very sensitive area in the north of KOSOVO.
Before leaving, General MATHEY warmly thanked all the French, Danish, Greek, Moroccan, Belgian, Luxembourger and Estonian soldiers and also all the reinforcing units from the 19 nations from the other Task Forces that served under his command during this  mandate  to guarantee peace and stability in his area of responsibility.

General YAKOVLEFF, new commander of MNTF-N, has been commanding the 7th Armoured Brigade (Besançon) since the 1st of august 2008.
His career with troops took place mainly in the Foreign Legion, where he served from 1983 to 1993, with the 1st foreign armoured regiment (1st REC in Orange), and with the 13th Foreign Legion Half-Brigade (Djibouti). He commanded the 2nd squadron of the 1st REC during operations “Desert shield” and “Desert storm” in 1990-1991, then served as chief operations with the 3rd Dragoons Regiment (Stetten Akm, Germany) from 1995 to 1997, and commanded the 1st REC from 2001 to 2003.     
Brigadier general Yakovleff is a graduate of the United States Command and General Staff College (Fort Leavenworth, KS, USA), Armed Forces Staff College (Norfolk, VA, USA) and Joint Defence College in Paris (1995).
His missions led him to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Senegal, Guyana and almost all the Balkans countries.
He is also a former alumni of the Centre des hautes études militaires (CHEM) and Institut des hautes études de défense nationale (IHEDN).
In his latest assignment, he was the military assistant of Mr Jean-Claude MALLET, commission president of the White Paper on Defence and national security.

(TStory by OF1 Chakir)