Opande: A soldier and a peacemaker
By Vincent Bartoo
Lieutenant General (Retired) Daniel Opande was in charge of a United Nations Transition Assistance Group (Untag) sent to Namibia in February 1989 to bring independence to the country through free and fair elections. Untag’s mission was to ensure that hostile acts were ended, discriminatory laws repealed and all political prisoners released. It was also mandated to ensure the safe return of refugees and the withdrawal of the South African government from the country, which it had taken as a colony. Opande was seconded to the UN peacekeeping mission by then Kenya’s Chief of General Staff Mohammud Mohammed. He hit the ground running as soon as he landed in Namibia since he was immediately appointed Untag’s deputy force commander. The unit was headed by Lt Gen Dewan PremChand from the Indian armed forces. "PremChand had been retired from the armed forces 15 years before but he was recalled due to his prowess in peace keeping missions in the Middle East, Cyprus and Congo," Opande explains. "But he surprised me when he said he wanted me at the forefront, adding that his role would only be to observe and provide guidance during the peace keeping efforts in Namibia." This, at first, appeared an insurmountable task for Opande, who considered himself a budding military officer who had joined the armed forces in the early 1960s knowing that his duties would only be confined to protecting his country from external aggression. "I was trained as a soldier. Making peace is not a soldier’s job. Soldiers win wars. Making peace is a different ball game altogether," he says during an interview at his Eldoret home. But Opande assured himself that he had what it took since he had been singled out for the challenging task. Interesting and difficult Telling himself that he could make it, he marshalled the UN troops under him to action. "The daunting task was to withdraw frontline states like South Africa that were interested in Namibia. We were also to help restore stability in these states that were grappling with their own internal wars," he says. In addition, Opande held meetings with presidents of the frontline states to try and negotiate the independence of Namibia. The leaders included President Eduardo dos Santos of Angola. "Part of the peace agreement was to restore peace in Angola by withdrawing Cubans who were being accused of causing instability, and extending it to Namibia," says Opande. For one year before Namibia finally gained independence in 1990, Opande was the highest authority in that country, and millions of citizens looked up to him to save it from ruin. But modesty is his second name: "I do not want to see it that way — that I ruled Namibia for one year. It was Untag that ruled as we sought the country’s independence," he says. His success in helping end the two-decade war endeared him to many, including his superiors at the UN. Due to the exemplary performance, Opande was appointed to head another mission to restore peace in Mozambique, a neighbour of Namibia. The Mozambican civil war started after that country’s independence in 1975. But from 1977, the ruling party, Front for Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), was violently opposed by the Rhodesian and later South African-funded Mozambique Resistance Movement (Renamo). Over five million civilians were displaced, 900,000 are believed to have died in fighting and from starvation, while many were rendered amputees by landmines. "My duty was to facilitate dialogue between Frelimo and Renamo, a job that was both interesting and difficult," says Opande. Contrary to the expectations of the UN that the war could be ended in a short span like in Namibia, there were more challenges in Mozambique. "The UN force was inadequate to stop the fighting and guarantee economic activities such as ensuring an uninterrupted movement of goods," he adds. Consequently, the UN force supplemented efforts by the former Organisation of African Union (OAU) to have Frelimo and Renamo agree to a peace deal. Frelimo was led by Joaquim Alberto Chissano while Renamo, which claimed to be under the sponsorship of South Africa and the US, was led by Afonso Dhlakama. "After two-and-a-half years of negotiations, we were able to bring Dhlakama and Chissano to round table peace talks that culminated in the Nkomati Peace Accord," says Opande. The Lieutenant General accompanied the Frelimo and Renamo leaders to Rome where the Nkomati peace deal was signed. "Under the peace deal, Renamo was to be disarmed and its fighters integrated into the Mozambican army. Renamo was then allowed to transform into a political party," he says. Fighting ended in 1992 and the country’s first free elections held in 1994 saw Chissano take over the country’s leadership. Liberia a hard nut to crack After scoring yet another success, it was time for Opande to move on to a new task. "My next and most difficult assignment was in Liberia where I was sent as UN’s chief military observer to supervise the signing of a peace accord that, however, failed," says Opande. The country’s civil war erupted in December 1989, when the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), an insurgent organisation led by Charles Ghankay Taylor, a former official of the Samuel Doe administration, invaded Liberia from the Ivory Coast, with the assistance of regular soldiers and mass recruits from Burkina Faso. NPFL forces were trained in Libya and received financial support from the same country, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Liberian opposition groups abroad. There was no commitment between the warring leaders — President Doe and rebel leader Taylor — to restore peace to that country. "It was difficult getting them to agree on a peace deal. They pulled in different directions and every time we came close to reaching an agreement, they would take us back to square one," says Opande. "Apart from the NPFL, other groups emerged, creating many warlords and making our work difficult. We had to talk to virtually all the warlords and try to convince them to give peace a chance." Opande was also charged with ending massive recruitment of child soldiers in the Liberian war.
"They controlled the streets of Liberia, and most would be drunk or high on drugs, riding on stolen vehicles while armed with machine guns," says Opande. The efforts that began in Liberia in 1993 failed and the UN peacekeeping force had to retreat in 1995 after hopes of realising peace in the war-ravaged country dimmed. "But I still believed we could make a headway, a point I made clear to my seniors. I told them although peace seemed elusive, it was within reach," he says. Opande was thereafter deployed to Sierra Leone, another country ravaged by an 11-year-old war. "The war had reduced the country to nothing. Towns had been destroyed and corpses littering the streets was a common sight. There was no government; it only existed in name in the capital, Free Town," he says. Opande, once again given to taking on hefty tasks, led the largest UN peacekeeping force ever deployed in an African state — of about 2,000 soldiers from different countries — to Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Civil War began in 1991, initiated by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under Foday Sankoh, over the control of Sierra Leone’s diamond industry. Tens of thousands died and more than two million people, over one-third of the population, were displaced. "The Liberian war played a big role in the eruption of fighting in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Some Liberian warlords sponsored the RUF to destabilise Sierra Leone," says the seasoned soldier. Opande’s peacekeeping force was not the first in that country since an earlier one had been repulsed by rebels who had taken some UN personnel hostage. "Our team was to negotiate the release of the UN hostages and apply carrot-and-stick tactics in convincing the rebels to disarm, but we also had to flex some muscle," he says. Served the armed forces for 42 years The Sierra Leone war took three years to quell and Opande’s team managed to disarm 90,000 fighters from both Sankoh’s camp and the Government side. "We also destroyed millions of illegal weapons and paved the way for free elections," he says. With almost beads of sweat appearing on his forehead at the memory, Opande says the Sierra Leone and Liberia wars were the most intense and posed a great challenge for his team. True to his vow not to give up on Liberia, Opande later returned to that country in 2003 to head an Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) force that would attempt to end the 14-year old civil war. "Our force negotiated a peace deal with the self-imposed President Taylor which saw him leave Liberia for exile in Nigeria," he says. Vice-President Moses Blah replaced Taylor prior to the installation of a transitional Government in October of 2003. This paved the way for the democratic election of the current President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. On September 11, 2003, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recommended the deployment of a peacekeeping mission to maintain the peace agreement. The UN peacekeepers replaced the Ecowas force although the personnel, including Opande, remained the same. The Liberian peacekeeping mission was the last assignment Opande undertook and he was to hang his boots after serving the armed forces for 42 years. Born on August 18, 1943, Opande attended Gendia Mission Intermediate School in Karachuonyo, Rachunyo District, in Nyanza. He later proceeded to Kakamega High School for his ‘O’ level education before joining the military. "It was in Kakamega that I developed a passion for the military. My dream career was to join the armed forces right after school and I am glad it came to pass," he says. When Opande first joined the forces, he underwent military training in Lanet before joining the British Army Cadet School (Sandhurst), where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1964. "My first posting was to North Eastern Province when the country was battling with the Shifta menace," he recalls. He received further training at the prestigious British Army Staff College and the United States National Defence University. His impressive training saw him rise through the ranks to deputise the then Chief of General Staff, Daudi Tonje, a man he describes as a mentor and friend. "God helped me rise to the top and I now believe He was cutting me out for a special job in peace keeping. I had to relinquish my post to take up the UN job," says Opande. He also served as Commandant of the National Defence College, Kenya’s highest military institution. Opande takes pride in accomplishing a lot while serving in the UN, and jokes that he would probably be a lesser man had he retired serving only at the local armed forces. "I am contended that I served humanity in the best way I could. I helped bring peace to four nations that were on the brink of ruin, which could have easily plunged the whole of Africa into war," says Opande. Before taking up the UN duties, Opande was also instrumental in having helped establish the parachute regiment as well as the ninth Kenya Rifles Battalion in Eldoret. He was the first commandant of the Eldoret Recruit Training School, that is currently churning out brilliant armed forces personnel. While working in the peacekeeping missions, Opande says he drew a lot of lessons, the main one being that peace should not be taken for granted. "I sometimes sit and watch events unfolding in our country and it saddens me that Kenyans take peace so much for granted," he says. "One has just to visit a war-torn country and see the suffering people undergo, to know that we should guard our peace jealously." This is probably the reason Opande is always given a hero’s welcome whenever he visits the countries where he helped restore peace. "I have gone back to these countries to see how they are faring and I get surprised that children have been named after me," he says. Opande proudly displays numerous souvenirs the citizens of the countries have given him in appreciation. The retired soldier was also honoured with medals for his role in peace keeping by three former UN Secretary-Generals: Javier Perez de Cuellar, Boutros Boutros Ghali and Kofi Annan. But executing his duties often left him feeling lonely at times especially because he was away from his family for long periods. The lowest point of his career came in 1994 when his wife, Rose, whom he describes as a very dear friend, died while he was away in Uganda on a UN mission. "It was very difficult especially because my two sons who were young, then needed a guardian. I had to ask my daughter Caroline, who was in the US, to come back home and help take care of the boys," says Opande. Opande has five children, who are now all grown with families. In retirement, Opande is not an idle man. He gets invitations from different military organisations worldwide, the UN and Kenya armed forces to speak in various fora. At home, he occasionally gets invited by the National Defence College to give lectures to senior military officers on various courses. Currently, he is preparing to travel to South Africa to attend the annual Swallow Dialogue Forum organised by the African Union (AU). "The forum discusses various challenges facing the world. This year’s conference will discuss how the AU can be enhanced in response to peace keeping," says Opande. In his free time, he likes reading and playing golf as well as working on his memoirs, which he says should be complete soon. He has also recently embarked on a reafforestation programme in his 50-acre farm in Eldoret, which he hopes to use as model for other North Rift residents to emulate. "This is my current occupation. We need to help restore our forest cover by planting trees. Trees are our livelihood," he concludes.
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