Henry Kwami Anyidoho
| Henry Kwami Anyidoho | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 13, 1940 Tanyigbe, Ghana |
| Allegiance | Ghana |
| Rank | Major General |
| Unit | UNEF, UNIFIL, ECOMOG, UNTAC, UNAMIR, UNAMID |
| Awards | Distinguished Service Order for Gallantry |
| Other work | author |
Major General Henry Kwami Anyidoho is a graduate of the US Marine Staff College in Virginia and the Ghana Military Academy, commissioned into the Ghanaian army’s Signal Corps in 1965. Since then he has served in various capacities in Ghana’s armed forces, including a Commanding Officer of the Ghana Military Academy and Commander of the Northern Command of the Army, as well as numerous UN peacekeeping missions.
During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a Ghanaian contingent led by General Anyidoho was deployed to serve in UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda) under Canadian General Romeo Dallaire. Anyidoho, who had experience in peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, Cambodia, and Liberia, served as General Dallaire’s Deputy Commander in addition to his role as head of the Ghanaian contingent. In Dallaire’s book, Shake Hands With the Devil, Anyidoho and his men are frequently singled out for praise for their courage and resourcefulness, and are given credit for sheltering thousands of Tutsis and Hutu moderates, saving them from certain death.[1]
For twelve years Anyidoho was also the Chairman of the Ghana Telecom Board of Directors. He has also contributed chapters to edited books on international peacekeeping and is the author of the book on his tenure in Rwanda: Guns Over Kigali .[2] He was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order for Gallantry.[3]
UN peacekeeping missions
- UNEF, Sinai
- UNIFIL, Lebanon - Chief Military Press and Information Officer
- ECOMOG, Liberia, 1990
- UNTAC, Cambodia
- UNAMIR, Rwanda, 1994 - Deputy Force Commander and Chief of Staff during Rwandan Genocide
- UNAMID, Darfur, since 2005 - Joint Deputy AU-UN Special Representative
References
- ↑ West African Troops in Peacekeeping, Kevin Knodell, Africa's Annoying, Baby Blue Beret, April 18th 2009]
- ↑ Guns Over Kigali: The Rwandese Civil War-1994: (a personal account), Henry Kwami Anyidoho, Woeli Publishing Services, 1997, ISBN 9964-978-16-2
- ↑ A dialogue of the deaf: essays on Africa and the United Nations, Adekeye Adebajo, Helen Scanlon, Njongonkulu Ndungane, University of Cape Town, Centre for Conflict Resolution, Jacana Media, 2006, ISBN 1-77009-263-3