UN posthumous medals for four Nigerian fallen peacekeepers, 122 others

UNITED Nation’s (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon yesterday in New York gave posthumous awards of Dag Hammarskjöld medal to 126 peacemakers   and from 38 countries including four Nigerians, who died in 2014 while serving under the UN flag.
The Nigerians lost their lives while serving in Liberia and Senegal.
They are: Lance Corporals Silas Danyawu and John Julius from the UN-AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), Corporal Adama Ike and Sgt. Rabiatu Musa who both served with the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
They were awarded the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal.

The honour was part of the activities to celebrate the ‘International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers’ observed every year on May 29.
2015 is marking the seventh successive year in which the Organisation will honour more than 100 ‘blue helmets’, as they are referred to.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)  described the medal as  egg-shaped  and  made of clear lead free glass, engraved with the name and date of death of the recipient, the UN logo, and the inscription “The Dag Hammarskjöld Medal.”
The Dag Hammarskjöld Medal is given posthumously by the UN to military personnel, police, or civilians, who lose their lives while serving in a UN peacekeeping operation.
It is named after Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the UN, who died in a plane crash in what is now Zambia in September 1961.
At the award ceremony, Ban said: “I regret to say this is the seventh year in a row that more than 100 peacekeepers lost their lives.
“The risks that our peacekeepers face are growing steadily from attacks by extremists and rebel groups to the threat of diseases, including Ebola.
“Of all the ceremonies that the UN organises, this is perhaps the most solemn and most difficult, but in many ways it is the most inspiring.
“The peacekeeping community gathers together 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.
“Their 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 UN Peacekeeping, Ban said will continue to carry risks and sadly this will not be the last time we gather together to mourn.
Our peacekeepers carry a heavy burden for all of us.
He said their hard work and successes have made UN peacekeeping an irreplaceable tool for the international community to address countries in conflict and to help the millions of people affected by war.
The fact that 125,000 peacekeepers serve today, an all-time high, Ban said, is a true testament to the faith and confidence entrusted in them.
The UN Chief said 41 of the peacekeepers honoured lost their lives in Mali, on May 28, due to acts of violence.
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