Namah is true hero

SANDLINE Crisis was a national emergency that shook Papua New Guinea in 1997 and those who could still remember this event well will also remember the heroes who rose up to the call.
They say history remembers kings and not soldiers but among those brave men one soldier, arguably an unsung hero, worth mentioning is Captain Belden Namah of the Papua New Defence Force.
A student studying at the University of Papua New Guinea at that time recalls in a published article supported by Phil Fitzpatrick Writing Fellowship,
There were five defence force officers heading the protest: Major Walter Enuma; Captain Bola Renagi; Namah; Lieutenant Michael David; and Second Lieutenant Linus Osaba.
These soldiers played a crucial role in stopping blood thirsty guns for hire from South Africa hired by the PNG Government through military contractor called Sandline mercenaries to go into Bougainville at the height of the crisis and kill the Bougainville Revolutionary Army high command and any sympathisers.
Had it wasn’t for the quick response of Namah and his elite squad PNG would have witnessed a blood bath on Bougainville and potentially 360,000 people on the island so loyal to the BRA would have been laid waste.
Every time Namah took the podium in his full military regalia to deliver a speech he looked like the revolution legend Fidel Castro or Che Guevara that we had read about in history books.
A student recalls: “Belden talked with passion and love for his country and had the students, the soldiers and everyone standing on their toes with their adrenaline soaring.
“That was the first time I had heard and seen Namah, albeit from a distance.
At the time I didn’t realise he would end up where he is now.”
Namah is among the first of the country’s elite soldiers to pass out from the Long Range Reconnaissance Unit or PNG’s special forces after its inception.
He is renowned among his men for daring operate led and executed in search and rescue missions.
Namah is no uncertain terms a national hero and his loyalty and dedication to the country is beyond question.

David Lepi