Background
Eide was born in Fana as the son of Ivar Vigleiksson Eide and Serina B. Oma.
Diplomat Chief of Defence of Norway
Eide was born in Fana as the son of Ivar Vigleiksson Eide and Serina B. Oma.
Eide graduated from the Norwegian Military Academy in 1957, and later education included studes at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Defense College.
He was a colonel in the Norwegian Army from 1980 to 1985. He was Major General and District Commander of Vestlandet from 1985 to 1986, and Lieutenant General and Head of Command of Northern Norway from 1986 to 1987. He served as Chief of Defence of Norway from 1987 to 1989.
He served as Chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Military Committee from 1989 to 1993.
From 1993 he had various international assignments, and participated in the peace negotiations in Guatemala in 1994, and in the former Yugoslavia from 1995 to 1996 (the Dayton Agreement). He was the Norwegian Ambassador to Lebanon and Syria from 1998 to 2001.
During this period a closer cooperation between North Atlantic Treaty Organization and members of the Warsaw Pact was initiated.