BIODATA OF Brigadier General Sanu Kaji Thapa (Retd.) Executive Officer, Nepal Army Welfare Board (NAWB)

Brigadier General Sanu Kaji Thapa(Retired), son of the late Ratna Bahadur Thapa and Miththu Devi Thapa, was born on April 26, 1968, in Godawari Municipality-9, Lalitpur Disrict, Bagmati Province, Nepal. He commenced his military career in 1990 as an Officer Cadet in Nepali Army. He was commissioned from the Nepali Military Academy, Kharipati, in 1991 and was initially posted to Kali Prasad Battalion (Engineers) as a Second Lieutenant. In May 2022, he achieved the rank of Brigadier General and commanded Infantry Brigade (28 Infantry Brigade) from August 2022 to January 2024 and successfully served as Deputy Director General of Military Training and Doctrine before taking retirement in April 2024. He was appointed as Executive Officer for Plan, Research and Development in Nepali Army Welfare Board in August for two years.

Brigadier General Thapa has successfully served in various capacities, ranging from Platoon Commander to Company Commander in Engineer Battalions and Independent Field Companies. He also served as a Staff Officer of the Chief of the General Staff from 1998 to 2001 and as an instructor to the National Cadet Corps from 2001 to 2002. Notably, he commanded Siddibox Company for two months as Company Commander and assumed the role of Acting Battalion Commander when the Company was upgraded to an Infantry Battalion for three months in 2005. In addition, Brigadier General Thapa commanded Devi Box Company for 18 months from 2005 to 2006 and later took command of Bhairab Battalion from 2010 to 2012 in the Far Western Regional District of Doti. Following this assignment, he commanded the same Battalion in UN peacekeeping missions, MINUSTAH in Haiti for seven months in 2013 and UNMISS in South Sudan for three months in 2014, immediately after the MINUSTAH in the very critical period of crisis which broke out in December2013 . He served as the commander of the EOD Holding Unit for one year in 2014-15, which has responsibility to maintain and upgrade the engineer capability in Nepal Army Engineer Corps. He also held special appointments as the Operation Officer of the Development Directorate, 27 Brigade, Assistant Chief of Staff (Operation) of Valley Division, Director of Ordnance of Nepal Army, and has successfully commanded Infantry Brigade (28 Brigade) as well as executed as Deputy Director General of Military Training and Doctrine before his retirement .

Brigadier General Thapa has participated in various United Nations missions. He successfully served as an Engineer Officer of the Purano Gorakh Battalion NEPBATT XXXV in the UNIFIL Mission in 1997, as a Company Commander of the Shreenath Battalion NEPBATT III in the then MONUC current MONUSCO Mission in 2005, as a Staff Officer of COE in the UNAMID Hybrid Operation in 2009, and as a Battalion Commander in MINUSTAH and UNMISS in 2013-2014. He successfully played the important role of a MILOB Team Leader for one year in the ONUC Mission in 2015-16 and also successfully commanded Task Force Bombari, equivalent to Sector as the Task Force Commander in the Central African Republic (CAR) during the MINUSCA Mission.

Brigadier General Thapa has graduated in various courses in home and abroad. He has achieved Infantry YO’s, Company Commander (CC), Company Commander and Staff (CCSC) from the Army War College, Nagarkot and Command and Staff College from the Nepalese Army Command and Staff College Shivapuri in 2004. He further has done Higher Command and Management Course (HCMC) at the Army War College, Nagarkot, in 2018. He has also graduated in various Combat engineers course from home and abroad. He has achieved Engineers Officers Basic Course (EOBC) from Engineering training School and Improvised Explosive Device Disposal and Search (IEDD) from EOD Holding Unit of Nepali Army. Also achieved Engineer’s YO’s, and Engineers Regiment Commander Course (ERCC) from India. Likewise, he has achieved Peace Keeping Operation Contingent Commanders Course (PKOCC) from Mongolia organized by GPOI and Humanitarian Coordination in Disaster Response HADR) from USA. Additionally, he holds dual Master's Degrees in Political Science and History and Culture from Tribhuwan University, Nepal.

Brigadier General Thapa enjoys in trekking and traveling. He is married and proud father of two sons.