The Economic Community of West African States on Thursday awarded the Commanders of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group, otherwise known as ECOMOG, for restoring peace and unity in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau.
The commission also honoured two Nigerian journalists who were killed in Liberia by forces loyal to Charles Taylor.
Liberia was engulfed in war between 1990 and 1997 while Sierra Leone went on fire between 1997 and 2000.
Guinea-Bissau had its share in 1999.
The award is coming over two decades after peace had been restored in the three countries.
They were honoured in Abuja at the unveiling of the book “Fighting Bushfires: ECOWAS and Peacemaking in West Africa -the experience and learning curves.
The book, which was a documentation of events of the wars in the three countries, was put together by Prof. Amadu Sesay.
Those honoured are: Lt. Gen. Arnold Quainoo, Maj. Gen. Tunji Olurin, Maj. Gen. Joshua N. Dogonyaro, Maj. Gen. Rufus M. Kupolati, Maj. Gen. J. Ishaya Bakut, Maj. Gen. John Shagaya, Maj. Gen. John Mark Inienger, Maj. Gen. Victor Samuel Leonard Malu, Maj. Gen. Timothy M. Shelpidi, Maj. Gen. Felix Agho Mujakperuo, Brigadier General Lamin Mangasouba, Gen. Cheick Oumar Diarra, Gen. Rtd. Seth Obeng and Brig-Gen Maxwell Khobe.
The two Nigerian journalists are Kreed Imodibie of Guardian Newspaper and Tayo Awotusin of the Champion Newspaper.
Also honoured are the veteran freelance journalist Lindsay Barret and Ben Asante of Ghana.
They were given the Symbolic Peace of the Rose Award.
Speaking at the occasion, Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa, disclosed that he lost ten of his coursemates from the Nigerian Defence Academy to the Liberia war.
He, therefore, said that to ensure that such sacrifices and others are not allowed to be in vain, the region and the continent at large should unite and not allow Africa to fall.
He said: “I lost 10 of my coursemates in Liberia. Those are the sacrifices that have been made, and that will continue to be made. And I want us to really understand that a lot of people are putting their lives for us to survive, for us to live.
“And so, what we owe them is to make sure that we unite, and not allow Africa to fall. Other than that, they will not achieve what they died for.”
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