17 March 2011 - Force Commander Maj. Gen. Moses Bisong Obi awarded UN medals to 723 UNMIS Kenyan Contingent Officers, Men and Women for military services provided to the peacekeeping mission.
During a ceremony held at the Kenyan battalion's 19 parade square in the Western Bahr El-Ghazal state capital of Wau, Maj. Gen. Obi acknowledged their role in the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the UNMIS mandate.
"This medal is in recognition of the duties rendered by the military contingent," he said.
Members of the Area Joint Military Committee who included three Sudan Armed Forces officers, three Sudan People's Liberation Army officers and two Southern Sudan Police Services officers also received commendation certificates
The Force Commander lauded them for preserving peace in the area and their active role in implementing security arrangements throughout the greater Bahr El-Ghazal region.
"I am very delighted with the presence of the Force Commander to grace this occasion," said Brig. Gen. Johnson Ondieki, the Wau-based Kenyan Contingent Commander.
Brig Gen Ondieki also acknowledged the role played by the Kenyan Contingent in providing force protection to all the UNMIS team sites, installations and patrols in the greater Bahr El-Ghazal region.
Kenyan military contingents joined UNMIS in Sudan in 2005 after the signing of the CPA, and Brig. Gen. Ondieki noted that the Kenyan military's first participation in a peacekeeping mission occurred in Chad in 1979.
