The EU has named a Danish police commander as head of its mission to ensure security at South Sudan’s international airport.

Lasse Rosenkrands Christensen, who served for six months as chief of logistics for the UN mission in Sudan in 2006-07, will take up the post on 1 September.

Originally a member of the Danish army, the 57-year-old Rosenkrands Christensen is a chief superintendent in the Danish police. He has also previously served in UN and EU missions in Croatia, Bosnia, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon and Kosovo.

The South Sudan mission – known by the EU as EUAVSEC South Sudan – is intended to train and mentor South Sudan’s security services at the airport in the country’s capital, Juba.

This is the first and only EU mission to date with the remit of helping to secure one particular site. Security checks and policing will be carried out by the South Sudanese authorities.

The rationale for the EU’s engagement is concern that lax security could enable criminals and terrorists to use the airport.

The 19-month mission, which was approved by the EU’s 27 member states in June, may eventually have 64 members and has a budget of €12.5 million. The core team, which is still in the process of recruitment, will be deployed in late September and early October. The mission is expected to reach full strength by the end of this year.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 after a 22-year war that cost over two million lives and displaced between four and five million civilians. The EU and South Sudan established formal diplomatic ties in December 2011. The EU has since opened a delegation in Juba, under Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, a German official appointed from the European Commission. It currently has ten members of staff.

The EU also has a special representative to South Sudan and Sudan, Rosalind Marsden, reflecting the challenges of separating the two countries.

In January, South Sudan cut off oil to the north and, since March, there have been repeated bloody clashes along the border, prompting the UN to threaten sanctions. Juba and Khartoum responded to a 2 August UN-backed deadline by agreeing to a division of oil revenues, though other issues – including border demarcation – remain unresolved.

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One EU country – the United Kingdom – is a member of the international troika spearheading efforts to establish peace in the two countries. The others are Norway and the United States.