Julian Harston
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
Special Representative of the Secretary-General
Mr. Harston was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara and Head of the Mission on the 5th of March 2007.
From May 2004, Julian Harston was the Director of the United Nations Office in Belgrade. Prior to that appointment, he had been the Director of the Asia and Middle East Division in the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Director for Post-UNTAET Planning in the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), and Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the Mission de Police des Nations Unies en Haiti (MIPONUH).
Mr. Harston began his service with the United Nations as Head of the Political Unit of the SRSG in UNPROFOR in 1995 after serving for many years as a career diplomat for the United Kingdom in Malawi, Portugal, Zimbabwe and Geneva. From 1969-1971 he was a radio and television broadcaster in Canada.
Mr. Harston was born in Kenya in 1942. He graduated from the King´s School, Canterbury, England and holds degrees from the University of London and the University of Rhodesia. Mr. Harston is fluent in French and Portuguese and also speaks Danish and German. He has one son.
Major General Zhao Jingmin (China)
Force Commander
On 27 August 2007 Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon appointed Major General Zhao Jingmin of the People´s Republic of China as Force Commander in the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
Since October 2003, General Zhao has held seniorappointments in the Office of Peacekeeping Affairs of the Ministry of National Defence of the People´s Republic of China. From 2002-2003, he was a Senior Colonel at the National Defence University. From 1998-2001 he was Military Attaché in Tunisia.
General Zhao served in the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) as Chief Liaison Officer from April 1996 to April 1997 and in MINURSO as a United Nations Military Observer from September 1991 to June 1992.
General Zhao was born in Shanxi, China, in 1954.
He holds degrees in Humanities from the Beijing Foreign Language Institute and the University of Dakar, Senegal. He obtained junior, intermediary and senior command level diplomas from the Infantry School of Shijiazhuang, the Shijiazhuang Military Academy and the People’s Liberation Army Academy of National Defence, respectively.
General Zhao is fluent in English and French. He is married and has one daughter.
Nader Darwich (Syria)
Chief Administrative Officer
Mr. Nader Darwich was appointed Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of MINURSO in August 2007. 
Before joining MINURSO, he acted as Chief Finance Officer, Officer in charge of Administration and Chief Administrative Services in the following offices:
1991-1995: UNDOF, Syria;
1995-1998: UNMOT, Tajikistan;
1998-2003: UNIKOM, Kuwait;
2004-2007: UNAMI, Iraq
Prior to the UN, he has worked with the Syrian Ministry of High Education and with the Ministry of Economy.
With a BA of Economics/Accounting in pocket, from University of Aleppo (Syria), he joined the University of Sofia (Bulgaria) where he deserved a PHD degree in Accounting.
Mr. Darwich is fluent in English and Bulgarian. He is married and has one daughter and one Son.
Vacant
Senior Political Advisor
Bakary Dabo (Gambia)
Head of Liaison Office, Tindouf
Mr Dabo took up the position of Head of the Minurso Liaison Office in Tindouf, on 25 August 2007.
Mr Dabo came to MINURSO from the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, UNMEE, where he was Chief of Staff from 01 February 2005 to 24 August 2007.
Mr Dabo was Senior Political Adviser to the Facilitator of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue from December 2001 to July 2003. He came to the United Nations from the Diplomatic Service of Gambia where he reached the rank of Ambassador.