Bansi Ponnappa

C B (Bansi) Ponnappa
Brigadier General C B Ponnappa photographed in the Congo in August 2013
Allegiance	India  United Nations
Service/branch	Indian Army
Rank	Brigadier
Commands held	North Kivu Brigade (NKB) of MONUSCO
Battles/wars	M23 rebellion

Brigadier C. B. Bansi Ponnappa is an Indian military officer and UN peacekeeper. He is known for his role as commander of the United Nations' MONUSCO forces in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the M23 rebellion.

Ponnappa is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy. He was previously Commander of Shakti Vijay Brigade in Jammu and Kashmir in 2012. As a representative of the Indian army he had flagged off an educational cum motivational tour under Operation Sadhbhavana in Tangdar area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

Later in 2012 he was sent to Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of India's UN Peacekeeping force. He was made MONUSCO's North Kivu Brigade (NKB) Commander and addressed as 'Brigadier General'. During the M23 rebellion in North Kivu the UN Peacekeepers secured the airport and maintained status quo while the security responsibilities of Goma was shared between the police deployment, the formed police of MONUSCO and the MONUSCO military.

Ponnappa served under Brazilian Lt. General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz who succeeded India's Chander Prakash as Force Commander of MONUSCO in March 2013. Under his command, North Kivu Brigade were blamed for not stopping the M23 rebel group from marching into Goma. In fact, M23 passed right beside Munigi Hill which was occupied by NKB.