General Rookmangud Katawal is a former Nepalese Army General, who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Nepal Army from September 10, 2006 to August, 2009. General Katawal had come into controversy after the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) had unilaterally decided to "relieve" Katawal of his duties on May 3, 2009. Commissioned into Shree Shreenath Battalion (Infantry) of the then Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) on December 20, 1969 after graduating from the Indian National Defense Academy, Katawal holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Tribhuwan University, and a Master Degree in National Defense from the Qaeda Azam University,Pakistan. Gen. Katawal was the Distinguished International Honour Graduate of the US Special Forces Course and earned the coveted Gideon in the US Ranger Course. He is also a graduate of the Army Command and Staff College, Camberley, UK, the Senior Command Course, India and the National Defense College, Pakistan. He has held commands and staff billets at virtually every level. In 1973, he served as an instructor at the Royal Nepalese Army School. In the same year, he donned the blue beret to serve in the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Suez Canal area.
