United Nations Honours 4 Ghanaian Peacekeepers With Posthumous Awards

The United Nations today (May 29, 2015) conferred its highest posthumous awards on four Ghanaian Peacekeepers who died last year in the line of duty.

They are among 126 Peacekeepers from 38 UN member- states who paid the ultimate sacrifice for peace, security and prosperity.

The honorees are Corporal Augustine Ackah, Sergeant George Koranteng, Lt. Moses Adatara , who were then serving with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and Warrant Office Class One Peter Atibire, who was with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Their Dag Hammarskjold medals were received on their behalf by Philbert Abakah Johnson, charge' d'affaires of Ghana's Permanent Mission to the United Nations at the ceremony held at the UN headquarters, New York to mark International Day of UN Peacekeepers.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon described the fallen heroes as people whose "sacrifice, and the way that they lived their lives, makes us all proud and spurs us on to work harder to ensure that their lives were not lost in vain".

The solemn ceremony is one of the most difficult ceremonies the UN organizes as the peacekeeping community gathers to honour courageous men and women who lost their lives while defending the most vulnerable people in some of the most dangerous places on earth, he pointed.

The Secretary General noted that this was the seventh year in a row that more than 100 peacekeepers had lost their lives, adding that " the risks that our peacekeepers face are growing steadily from attacks by extremists and rebel groups to the threat of diseases, including Ebola.

acknowledging that UN peacekeepers carry a heavy burden, he explained that their hard work and successes have made UN peacekeeping an irreplaceable tool for the international community to address in conflict countries and to help the millions of people affected by war.

To buttress his argument, The Secretary General said the fact that 125,000 peacekeepers serve today, an-all-time high, is a true testament to the faith and confidence entrusted to them.

Presenting the medals to representatives of the deceased, Under Secretary General Herve Ladsous said the memories of the deceased will always be in their hearts, for their bravery and dedication to duty.

Over the course of nearly seven decades, Mr. Ladsous noted that UN Peacekeeping had proved to be the transition from conflict to peace around the world.

Peacekeeping Missions, he said cannot succeed alone since its a global mission that requires need technology, new capabilities, among others for the mandates to succeed.

The Under Secretary General For Field, Atul Khare, received the medals on behalf of the 13 civilians who were among those who perished on the line of duty last year..

Mr. Khare pointed out that the ultimate sacrifices that they made, will inspire those who are still in service to do their best.

Giving a picture of the current working conditions of civilian peacekeepers, the Under Secretary General said it was clear that they deployed to increasingly volatile and precarious environments, a situation that requires additional security to get the job done.

Earlier, the Secretary General Ban Ki Moon laid a wreath at the UN Peacekeeping Memorial site, in memory of the 3,366 UN Peacekeepers, who have lost their in the history of UN.

The Secretary General recalled that the conditions were especially hazardous in Mali."Our Mission there lost 28 of their colleagues due to malicious acts and 41 overall. This is one of the highest one-year fatality rates for any peacekeeping operation in UN history.

"Also last year in Darfur, two dozens peacekeepers lost their lives. Three of them, from Ethiopia, were senselessly killed while protecting a water pump that was used by internally displaced persons and students from a nearby school" he stated.

In Liberia, for the first time we lost a peacekeeping personnel to Ebola, he adding that the "Operational environments are getting worse as peacemakers,are increasingly exposed to asymmetric threats. They are attacked and killed by extremists.

Considering such happenings as very seriously,the Secretary General said "That is why I have been doing everything possible to adapt our operations to these more dangerous environments. We need new capabilities. We cannot do 21^st century peacekeeping with 20^th century tools. Our experts are taking steps to provide better safety and security. We have started deploying more armoured vehicles. We are enhancing security at our facilities. We are utilizing new technology to carry out work which would be more dangerous if it had to be done by peacekeepers.

SECRETARY GENERAL BAN KI-MOON BACK TO CAMERA BOWING AT THE WREATH- LAYING CEREMONY.PHOTO BY R. HARRY REYNOLDS

Philbert Johnson, charge D'affaires of the Ghana Mission receiving the award on behalf of the four Ghanaians who died in the line of duty.PHOTO AND STORY BY R. Harry Reynolds,