AS Fiji commemorates 40 years since her first group of soldiers departed our shores, President Major General (Ret’d) Jioji Konrote is calling on all Fijians to remember the fallen and their families.
Mr Konrote highlighted this during the 40th Anniversary of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Suva Syumposium held at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva today.
The President said Fiji owed it to the many individuals and parties who had made those peacekeeping operations possible.
“We thank our then-national leaders in the 1970s who initiated the idea for Fiji to be involved in peacekeeping operations – they include our first Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and his government; and Fiji’s first local Commander of the Military Forces Colonel Paul Manueli,” Mr Konrote said.
He said Fiji had immensely contributed to peacekeeping missions in the Middle-East over the last 40 years.
“Of the 70 years that the UN has been involved in negotiating peaceful resolutions to conflicts, Fiji can stand proud that we have contributed, and remain committed to upholding the tenets of diplomacy, stability, security, impartiality, for 40 years.”
