Jailed Soldiers: U.N T Question Nigerian Armed Forces Chiefs
From Laolu Akande (New York)
THE United Nations may be raising questions about how Nigeria's military high command manages some of the troops the country sends to United Nations peacekeeping missions.
The concerns featured in New York at the weekend in the UN headquarters where the International Day of Peacekeeping was celebrated. Coincidentally, last Friday marked Democracy Day in Nigeria.
At the UN headquarters, top officials promised to look into the issue of the 27 Nigerian international peacekeepers, who were recently court-martialed and jailed for life for protesting the non-payment of their international UN allowances.
The 27 soldiers, including Corporals, Lance Corporals and Sergeants, were part of the 850-member 14th Nigerian Battalion drawn from several military formations in the country to participate in the UN mission from September 2007 to April 2008.
At a press conference to mark the Day of Peacekeeping, Mr. Alain Le Roy, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Susana Malcorra, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, fielded questions about the 27 Nigerian soldiers.
They also commented on the case of a female Nigerian soldier, who was part of the nation's troops sent to Sudan, but who later claimed she was dismissed for refusing sexual advances from her commander at the UN mission.
Mr. Le Roy said he would take up the issue of the 27 international peacekeepers among who were three women. He is visiting Nigeria next month and will have discussions with top Generals of the Nigerian armed forces.
The focus of this year's international Day of UN Peacekeeping incidentally is about women peacekeepers with the theme, 'Women in Peacekeeping: the Power to Empower'.
Last month, a military court sentenced to life jail 27 of the 28 soldiers, who were court-martialed for mutiny, after they protested the non-payment of the allowances due to them for participating in the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia.
One of the soldiers, Private Bala Aliyu, was discharged and acquitted by the court. The court, which sat in Akure, ruled on the matter after about nine months of trial.
The ruling is believed to be subject to the confirmation by the Nigerian Chief of Army, who is the convening authority, and Le Roy, the top UN Chief for Peacekeeping, would be meeting the Chief of Army Staff next month to review the case.
Interestingly, also last month, the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike and Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, visited the UN but the matter apparently was not discussed.
UN press corps from the New York-based Inner City Press and this reporter later raised the issue, forcing the UN top officials to offer an intervention on Friday.
On the female Nigerian soldier, Private Adeniyi Abiodun, who accused her commanding officer, said to be a colonel, of allegedly causing her dismissal and subsequent detention for two months because she allegedly refused him sex while on UN mission in Sudan four years ago, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, Susana Malcorra, also promised to look into the matter.
She had told the UN press corps on Friday that, "I will be frank with you, I am hearing of it for the first time and we'll find out."
But on the case of the jailed 27 peacekeepers, Le Roy warned that the matter falls within the purview of Nigeria's domestic affairs. Nonetheless, he would still ask questions from the Nigerian generals in his forthcoming meeting with them.
"It is, of course, a domestic issue, but I will ask during my trip to Nigeria in mid-June and I will let you know," Le Roy told press corps.
Lawyer to the jailed soldiers, Femi Falana, had reportedly said that none of the senior officers allegedly involved in the embezzlement of the said UN funds were detained for one day.
Following the commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of peacekeeping last year, this year's International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers placed special emphasis on women empowerment.
While totalling about 30 per cent of civilian staff, women currently made up only eight per cent of the United Nations police and two per cent of its military personnel, Le Roy said.
Since the adoption of Security Council's landmark resolution 1325 on the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations had urged Member States to send more women to peacekeeping missions.
United Nations Peacekeepers Day has been celebrated since 2002 when the General Assembly designated May 29 the day to pay tribute to all men and women in peacekeeping operations and to honour the memory of those who had lost their lives for the cause of peace.
May 29 was the date of the establishment of the first-ever United Nations peacekeeping mission in 1948, when the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) began operations in Palestine.
As part of the commemoration, United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon had participated in a wreath-laying ceremony in honour of 132 peacekeepers from 48 countries who had lost their lives - whether as a result of attacks, illness or accidents - in the service of peace last year.
Dag Hammarskjšld medals had been awarded posthumously to the military, police and civilian personnel who had died in 2008.
