UN to honour 3 fallen Nigerian peacekeepers on June 1

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Three fallen Nigerian peacekeepers have been listed for honour by the United Nations (UN) next month.

Lt. Col. Ali Suleiman, Warrant Officer Remmy Amakwe and Mr. Kolawole Shogaolu are among the 129 military, police and civilian personnel who will be honoured after losing their lives in peacekeeping operations during 2017.


The Secretary-General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, will lay a wreath in their memory at the global organisation’s headquarters in New York to mark the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.

He will also officiate at a ceremony to posthumously present the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal to the fallen heroes.

Lt. Col. Suleiman served with the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo while Warrant Officer Amakwe was deployed with the African Union–United Nations Mission in Darfur.

Mr. Shogaolu served in a civilian capacity in the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali.

Nigeria is the 41st largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping, according to a recent statistics.

It currently contributes more than 500 military and police personnel to the UN peace operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, Mali, Sudan, South Sudan and the Western Sahara.

In his message to mark the Day, Guterres announced that he would spend the Day with United Nations Peacekeepers in Mali “to express my solidarity with colleagues facing high casualties and enormous volatility.”


This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of UN Peacekeeping, the flagship enterprise of the Organization described by the Secretary-General as ”a proven investment in global peace, security and prosperity.”

“We express our gratitude to the more than one million men and women who have served under the UN flag, saving countless lives. We honour the more than 3,700 blue helmets who have paid the ultimate price over the past seven decades.

“And we pay tribute to the 14 peacekeeping missions working around the clock to protect people and advance the cause of peace,” Guterres said.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said: “Our peacekeepers – civilian, police, men and women, military personnel – save lives every day”.

“Today, we honour those who have sacrificed their lives in service to peace. Their service and sacrifice inspires us to work harder to support a sustainable peace in some of the world’s most complex and challenging places.”