From last week continues the narrative of Nigeria’s continued contributions to global peace keeping operations, with the Nigeria police featuring prominently in this regard in Congo and other places 

ITS involvement followed an urgent re

quest from the UN Secretary General to the Nigerian government for 300 policemen to assist the UN force to maintain law and order. December 21, 1960, a contingent of 400 officers and men left Nigeria under the command of Mr. Louis O. Edet(1914-1979) from the famous Edet Essien and Gerald Orok family in Calabar, then a Deputy Commissioner and later became the first indigenous Inspector General of Police, to replace a detachment of the Ghanaian police which had withdrawn after a six-month service. The Nigerian contingent was stationed in Leopoldville, Luluabourg, Stanleyville, Bukavu and Kindu. Apart from regular patrol duties, the contingent carried out the administrative re-organisation of the Congolese police force, and organised a refresher course for Congolese’s police officers and a long-term comprehensive training programme for recruits at the police college in Leopoldville. It spent a total of five years in the Congo.   

On the whole, the initial cost to Nigeria arising from the operations in the Congo, between 1960 and 1961, amounted to $1,800,000. In addition to this, Nigeria also paid salaries and allowances of all Nigerian troops and policemen during their three and half years of service. The  total cost was $12,300,000. The cost of maintaining the 400-man police contingent that served for five years was $29,580,000. In June 1964, Nigeria contributed $626,000 to the UN Congo special fund. The total estimated cost to Nigeria of the Congo operations was $44,366,000. This did not include its $1,000,000 subscription to the UN bond issue inaugurated in 1962 to alleviate UN financial burdens in the peacekeeping operations. 

On January 20, 1964, Tanganyika soldiers mutinied and took over Dar es Salaam in protest against poor pay and the continued presence of British officers in the army. The mutiny spread to other towns. Six hundred British royal marines, flown in at the request of the government, disarmed the mutineers. The entire army was also disbanded. At the OAU Council of Ministers meeting in Dar es Salaam, it was agreed that troops be reconstituted. In March 1964, following an agreement between Nigeria and Tanganyika, Nigerian troops replaced the British troops, assisting the Tanganyika government in maintaining internal security. They served for six months. 

In 1983, Nigeria spent N50 million to finance its participation in an OAU sponsored peacekeeping mission in Chad, following a rebel invasion from Libya to overthrow the government of Hisene Hibre. 

Nigeria’s most elaborate peacekeeping effort has been in Liberia. On Christmas Eve, 1989, following years of violent and chaotic rule by the government of Sergeant Samuel Doe, rebel forces led by Charles Taylor, Doe’s former Director of General Services, invaded the country, entering the Nimba County through Cote d’Ivoire. The Talor forces made rapid progress. However, their onslaught and the counter-reaction to it from the Doe government and other insurgent groups led to a bloodbath, carnage and a refugee crisis unprecedented in the history of the sub-region. By August 1990, Doe’s government had lost control of the country. Meanwhile, the refugee problem worsened as relief ships refused to enter Liberian territorial waters because the Lloyds of London refused to issue them insurance.

The initial response of sub-regional leaders came in April. At the urging of President Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Gambia established a Standing Mediation Committee, SMC, to resolve the conflict peacefully. After failing to secure co-operation for the peace efforts, especially from Taylor whose forces were on the verge of taking over Monrovia when the SMC was formed, the SMC on August 7 created the Economic Community of West African States Ceasefire Monitoring Group, ECOMOG. ECOMOG’s mandate  combined peacekeeping and peace enforcement, namely: to conduct military operations for the purpose of monitoring ceasefire, to restore law and order to create the necessary conditions for free and fair elections; and to aid the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of war. 

On the whole, Nigeria supplied about 70% of ECOMOG’s men and material during the first five years of its operations. This included 15-armed helicopters. After the removal of the force’s Ghanaian Commander, General Arnold Guainoo, it was led by a Nigerian Commander. 

To be concluded