Henry Kwami Anyidoho (born 13 July 1940) is a former Ghanaian military officer.

Biography

Henry Kwami Anyidoho was born on 13 July 1940 in

Tanyigbe Tanyigbe is a town in the Ho municipality of the Volta Region of Ghana. The town is known for the Tanyigbe Secondary School, a well known second cycle institution in the town. Also endowed with a section of the Kabakaba Hills, which continues to ...

, Ghana. He graduated from the US Marine Staff College in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

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 Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

’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 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 ...

, a Ghanaian contingent led by General Anyidoho was deployed to serve in

UNAMIR 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, wh ...

(United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda) under Canadian General

Roméo Dallaire Roméo Antonius Dallaire (born June 25, 1946) 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 b ...

. Anyidoho, who had experience in peacekeeping missions in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

, and

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

, 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

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic grou ...

s and

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

moderates, saving them from certain death. 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. For twelve years Anyidoho was also the Chairman of the

Ghana Telecom Vodafone Ghana, formerly Ghana Telecom, is the national telecommunications company of Ghana. The company in Ghana operates under Vodacom Group - Africa's leading mobile telecommunications company. As of January 2020, it had around 9.3 million mob ...

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'' . He was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order for Gallantry.A dialogue of the deaf: essays on Africa and the United Nations
Adekeye Adebajo, Helen Scanlon, Njongonkulu Ndungane, University of Cape Town, Centre for Conflict Resolution, Jacana Media, 2006,

UN peacekeeping missions

UNEF UNEF may refer to: * United Nations Emergency Force, a UN force deployed in the Middle East in 1956 * UNEF, a designation for Extra-Fine thread series of Standard Unified Screw Threads (ANSI B1.1) * Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (Natio ...

Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

UNIFIL The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon ( ar, قوة الأمم المتحدة المؤقتة في لبنان, he, כוח האו"ם הזמני בלבנון), or UNIFIL ( ar, يونيفيل, he, יוניפי״ל), is a UN peacekeeping m ...

– Chief Military Press and Information Officer *

ECOMOG The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) was a West African multilateral armed force established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). ECOMOG was a formal arrangement for separate armies to work ...

, 1990 *

UNTAC The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) ar, سلطة الأمم المتحدة الانتقالية في كمبوديا, italics=off zh, , italics=offfrench: Autorité provisoire des Nations unies au Cambodgerussian: Орг ...

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

, 1994 – Deputy Force Commander and Chief of Staff during

* UNAMID,

Darfur Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju, ...

, since 2005 – Joint Deputy AU– UN Special Representative

Citations

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anyidoho, Henry Kwami People of the Rwandan genocide Living people 1940 births People from Volta Region Ghanaian soldiers Ghanaian expatriates in the United States