Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

Meet the First Tunisian Woman Recruited for a UN Peacekeeping Mission


UN peacekeeping office from Serbia, image courtesy of Hervé Serefio

75 Tunisian military officers of various ranks have traveled to the Republic of Mali to participate in a UN peacekeeping mission, and among them was Captain Olfa Lajnaf, pilot of the aircraft and the first Tunisian woman to be part of a UN peacekeeping mission.

Captain Olfa Lajnaf is the commander of the C-130 Hercules military aircraft. She has graduated from the aviation school at Burj Al Ameri. The caption, who is under the age of 30, has already secured the transportation of many official personalities, including the Minister of Defense on many occasions. She has also participated in military missions in Tunisia and abroad.

Lajnaf’s mission in Mali will be to provide logistical support to UN forces in the areas of transport, gear and health evacuation, according to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations programs in the African country.


UN Peacekeeping Mission​

In the honorary ceremony, Tunisian Defense Minister Abdelkareem Zubaidi praised the Captain Lajnaf, and saluted her courage and choice to join a UN mission to a country that is going under difficult security conditions.

Olfa is one of many women who have chosen to join the military establishment in Tunisia, and they make 6% of the total number of devote servants of this institution. This percentage might appear to be little, but in fact is exemplary in comparison to other countries’ female participation in the army, where the Italian army, for example, has only 4% female military involvement.

Share Article

Write a comment