SAUDI ARABIA HAJ PILGRIMS FROM INDIA: Indian Muslim pilgrims wait for their buses at Jeddah airport to go to the holy city of Mecca on Jan. 10. Saudi Arabia has issued over 1.2 million visas for pilgrims intending to perform the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca in the last two weeks of January, according to the Foreign Ministry. (Photo: AFP)

UNITED NATIONS: Maj Gen Randhir Kumar Mehta of the Indian Army has been appointed military adviser to the U.N. Department for Peacekeeping Operations.

According to an announcement by Secretary General Kofi Annan, Mehta will take over from Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert of the Netherlands. Cammaert has been appointed the eastern division commander of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC).

Mehta has held numerous command and staff positions in the army and served as a sector commander with the U.N. mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, the Higher Command Course and the National Defence College.

He had been awarded the Yudh Seva Medal for gallantry in operations in Sierra Leone and the Vishisht Seva Medal by the president for distinguished services of a high order.