Major General Simon Stuart has been appointed to lead a multinational peacekeeping force on the Sinai Peninsula, Department of Defence in the Australian Government said in a press release. The Multinational Force and Observers, known as the MFO, is an independent organisation headquartered in Rome that supervises implementation of the security arrangements to the 1979 Treaty of Peace between Egypt and Israel. The Director General of the MFO, Ambassador David Satterfield, announced today that Major General Stuart would become Force Commander MFO from 1 March 2017. The Minister for Defence, Senator the Honourable Marise Payne congratulated the Major General on his appointment and said this would be the second time in its history that an Australian has been appointed to this role.