UNITED NATIONS, July 5 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday appointed Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian of India as the new force commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Subramanian succeeds Lieutenant General Shailesh Tinaikar of India, to whom Guterres is grateful for his "tireless dedication, invaluable service and effective leadership" as UNMISS force commander, according to a press note issued by the secretary-general's office.

Subramanian has a distinguished military career with the Indian Army spanning over 36 years. He had earlier served in a UN peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone in 2000, according to the press note.

UNMISS, set up in 2011, has 17,982 personnel, of whom 13,254 are troops, the most in the 13 current UN peacekeeping operations. India has contributed 2,385 troops and 30 police personnel to UNMISS.