Major General Ignacio Martin Villalain

Commander EUFOR, Bosnia and Herzegovina

(EUFOR - 05/12/07; AFP, DPA, Xinhua - 04/12/07)

Spanish Major General Ignacio Martin Villalain replaced German Rear Admiral Hans-Jochen Witthauer as head of the 2,500-strong EUFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on December 4th, 2007. He is the force's fourth commander since the EU took over peacekeeping duties in BiH from NATO in December 2004.

Villalain was born on May 13th, 1947 in Burgos, Spain. He began his military career in 1968, when he joined the General Military Academy. Four years later, he was promoted to infantry lieutenant.

After a two-year service in a mountain battalion and, subsequently, the Spanish Legion in the former Spanish Sahara, Villalain was promoted to captain in 1976 and was posted to the NCO Academy in Tremp, northwestern Spain, as a military instructor.

In 1980, he was transferred to the Montain School in Spain's northeastern town of Jaca, where he served as company commander until 1986.

That same year, Villalain joined the Staff College and was promoted to major. He then spent three years working at the Spanish Defense Ministry's policy office.

In 1992, he completed two tours of duty as a military observer. The first, for 10 months, was in El Salvador. The second, two-month tour was in the former Yugoslavia.

Following his promotion to lieutenant colonel, Villalain was appointed G-4, or Assistant Chief of Staff, of the Spanish Rapid Reaction Force (FAR) in 1994. The following year, he joined the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and later, the Spanish Defence Staff.

From April until August 1997, Villalain headed the planning cell of the UN-mandated multinational military and humanitarian mission in Albania, dubbed Operation Alba. Two months later, he assumed command of Spain's "Pyrenees" mountain battalion. He served in that post until July 1998, when he was promoted to colonel.

Villalain was appointed Deputy of the Land Operational Command Staff of the Spanish Army Staff in November 1998. He remained in that job until December 2000, when he assumed command of his country's "66 America" mountain regiment. He completed his assignment in December 2002 and a month later he left for Kosovo, where he served a G-4 [Assistant Chief of Staff] at the KFO headquarters in Pristina until June 2003.

Villalain was then appointed chief of the Spanish liaison team to the US Central Command in Tampa, Florida.

Following his promotion to brigadier general in December 2003, he was appointed as Commandant of the General Military Academy in Zaragoza.

Villalain, who was promoted to major general in December 2006, was the Military Commandant of Barcelona and Tarragona before he took up the post of commander of EUFOR.

As he assumed his new duties on December 4th, 2007, Villalain vowed to work for further progress in ensuring and maintaining a safe and secure environment in BiH, so that the country may move forward on its path of European integration.

"There is still more work to be done," the Spanish general said after the handover ceremony at Butmir Camp in Sarajevo. "EUFOR will retain a presence across the country. It will keep a capacity to rapidly deploy where needed and to respond promptly to any potential threat to the safe and secure environment."