UN honours Zimbabwe's top army officers

FOUR senior Zimbabwe National Army officers have been conferred with United Nations medals in recognition of their outstanding service during the peacekeeping observer mission in Syria last year.

Lieutenant Colonel Shadreck Vezha, Lt Col Chadokweenda Gota, Lt Col Hamilton Ndlovu and Lt Col Douglas Gwite served under the UN Syria mission.

Conferring the medals yesterday at KG VI in Harare, Chief of Staff Administration Staff Major General Trust Mugoba commended the quartet for conducting their duties well.

"The awarding of these medals to the ZNA officers is a clear indication that they managed to raise not only the Zimbabwe Defence Forces flag high, but the Zimbabwean flag at large," Maj Gen Mugoba said.

"This alone shows the level of discipline, professionalism and dedication to duty that was displayed by the senior officers during their deployment."

The ZDF and other security services in the country, said Maj Gen Mugoba, continued to perform obligations as mandated by the UN.

He said the Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, President Mugabe, was proud of the army officers and had through ZNA Commander Lt Gen Philip Valerio Sibanda agreed to the awards, which reflects the country's efforts to ensuring peace in the world.

Maj Gen Mugoba said the ZDF contributed immensely to a peaceful environment enjoyed in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Lesotho and many other countries.

"No wonder, therefore, that the desire and obligations of ZDF to maintain peace internationally also reflected in our ability to maintain peace in the country and the just-ended harmonised elections were done in a peaceful environment," he said.

"This is a reflection of ZNA and ZDF's commitment to ensure peace and stability in the country."

The four senior officers were deployed for two months in 2012 as part of 300 military officers drawn from 50 countries following the establishment by the UN Security Council Resolution 2043 of April 21, 2012 to monitor the cessation of armed violence in Syria.

The mission ended on July 24, 2012 and the unarmed 300 peacekeepers were withdrawn after the UN Security Council decided to terminate the mission upon realising that diplomatic peacekeeping efforts had failed as the rebellion against the government of President Bashar al-Assad was worsening.