Henry Kwami Anyidoho | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 July 1940 Tanyigbe, Gold Coast (now Tanyigbe, Ghana) |
| Allegiance |  Ghana |
| Service/ | Ghana Army |
| Rank | Major-general |
| Unit | UNEF, UNIFIL, ECOMOG, UNTAC, UNAMIR, UNAMID |
| Awards | Distinguished Service Order for Gallantry |
| Other work | author |
Henry Kwami Anyidoho (born 13 July 1940) is a former Ghanaian military officer.
Henry Kwami Anyidoho was born on 13 July 1940 in Tanyigbe, Ghana. [1] He graduated from the US Marine Staff College in Virginia and the Ghana Military Academy and was 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 Roméo 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. [2] When the Belgian government decided to withdraw their peacekeeping contingent, the UN leadership instructed Dallaire to prepare to withdraw UNAMIR. Dallaire sought advice from Anyidoho, who assured him that he and his Ghanaian troops would not leave. Thus assured, Dallaire decided to keep UNAMIR operational. [3] [4]
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 . [5] He was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order for Gallantry. [6]
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is the unified armed force of Ghana, consisting of the Army (GA), Navy (GN), and Ghana Air Force.
Roméo Antonius Dallaire is a Canadian humanitarian, author, retired senator and Canadian Forces lieutenant-general. Dallaire served as force commander of UNAMIR, the ill-fated United Nations peacekeeping force for Rwanda between 1993 and 1994, and attempted to stop the genocide that was being waged by Hutu extremists against the Tutsi people and Hutu moderates.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 872 on 5 October 1993. It was intended to assist in the implementation of the Arusha Accords, signed on 4 August 1993, which was meant to end the Rwandan Civil War. The mission lasted from October 1993 to March 1996. Its activities were meant to aid the peace process between the Hutu-dominated Rwandese government and the Tutsi-dominated rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The UNAMIR has received much attention for its role in failing, due to the limitations of its rules of engagement, to prevent the Rwandan genocide and outbreak of fighting. Its mandate extended past the RPF overthrow of the government and into the Great Lakes refugee crisis. The mission is thus regarded as a major failure.
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu militias. The most widely accepted scholarly estimates are around 500,000 to 662,000 Tutsi deaths.
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The Arusha Accords, officially the Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Rwandaand the Rwandan Patriotic Front, also known as the Arusha Peace Agreement or Arusha negotiations, were a set of five accords signed in Arusha, Tanzania on 4 August 1993, by the government of Rwanda and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), under mediation, to end a three-year Rwandan Civil War. Primarily organized by the Organisation of African Unity and the heads of state in the African Great Lakes region, the talks began on 12 July 1992, and ended on 4 August 1993, when the accords were finally signed.
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The failure of the international community to effectively respond to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has been the subject of significant criticism. During a period of around 100 days, between 7 April and 15 July, an estimated 500,000-1,100,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsi and moderate Hutu, were murdered by Interahamwe militias.
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