Indar Jit Rikhye

Who was Indar Jit Rikhye?

Indar Jit Rikhye was a major general in the Indian army who served as military adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and U Thant in the 1960s. As military advisor, he was responsible for operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, West Irian, Yemen, and Cyprus. Special assignments included advisor to the Secretary-General during the Cuban Missile Crisis, chief of the UN observer mission to the Dominican Republic, and participant in the Spinelli-Rikhye Mission to Jordan and Israel in 1965.

From 1970 to 1990, he was president of the International Peace Academy, a New York-based organization that promotes the settlement of armed conflicts by training negotiators, diplomats and military personnel in peacekeeping.

Gen. Rikhye had a distinguished 38-year career in the Indian army. He served with the famed Bengal Lancers during World War II and, starting in the late 1950s, was assigned to U.N. peacekeeping units. He was credited with combining great resolve as a coordinator with physical courage.

General Rikhye is the author of numerous publications including The Thin Blue Line: International Peacekeeping and its Future. Indar Jit Rikhye was President of the International Peace Academy.