THANK YOU YAH, but Always Keep Us in Mind and Never Forget Us as a Nation

The official mandate of the United Nations Mission in Liberia or UNMIL ended on Thursday, June 30, 2016, after thirteen years of successful peace-keeping. But a formal ceremony for its formal drawdown took place on Friday, July 1, 2016 at the Monrovia City Hall, with assurance by the Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces of Liberia – President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, of the preparedness of the national security apparatus for full national security. 

While the intervention of the United Nations’ mission in Liberia may have been to end years of intermittent and fratricidal civil conflicts, as well as maintained the peace, another aspect of its mission that must attract the highest commendation is capacity-building at all levels of socio-economic and political development.

In the areas of media development, election and politics, gender, agriculture, psychosocial development, infrastructures, especially road rehabilitation in Rural Liberia, as well as education, among others, are major contributions of UNMIL for the past thirteen years that must break our silence in the wake of the completion of its mission to Liberia.

These positive socio-economic and political initiatives amid peace, tremendously restored hope and sanity among war-weary Liberians, as well as created more opportunities for other interventions to lift the nation.
For us, our heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to the men and women in arms of UNMIL who stood in the rains; in the cold; in the dark; in the forest; and under the sun far against their comfort and away from their families, as well as the civil staff – local and international, who also buttressed the efforts of the men and women in arms.

To the n Secretary General Kofi Annam, current Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, the Security Council, the Secretary General Special Representatives, Force Commanders, as well as the governments and peoples of trope-contributing countries, Liberian history will continue to reflect your meaningful and live-preserving contributions when the country needed you most.

Now that your thirteen-year mission is rewardingly accomplished, let us not only say THANK YOU YAH’, but always keep us in mind and never forget us as a nation.