President José Ramos-Horta presents Medal of the Order of Timor-Leste to former UN official for role in Guinea-Bissau peace process
By Bunmi Yekini
Timor-Leste has honoured Nigerian peace and conflict-resolution expert Babafemi A. Badejo with the country’s highest national award for his contributions to international peacebuilding and efforts to restore constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau.
President José Ramos-Horta presented Badejo with the Medal of the Order of Timor-Leste at a ceremony at the country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York on Monday, according to a statement by Yintab Strategy Consults, where Badejo is lead consultant and chief executive officer.
The award was conferred under Decree No. 107/2026 of the President of the Republic and recognised Badejo’s work with a Timorese technical team that supported efforts to restore constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau in 2013 and 2014.
Badejo served as chief of staff to Ramos-Horta, who was then the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for Guinea-Bissau, from January 2013 to June 2014.
During that period, they worked to strengthen cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and supported the restoration of constitutional order through elections held in 2014, the statement said. Timor-Leste contributed more than $8 million to the process.
In remarks at the ceremony, Ramos-Horta described Badejo as a “true friend of Timor-Leste and a champion of peace”, according to the statement.
Badejo, in accepting the award, said his work in Guinea-Bissau was the result of a broader partnership involving peace support officials, mediators, governments and civil society.
He also acknowledged Nigeria’s role in efforts to stabilise Guinea-Bissau under former President Goodluck Jonathan, who was ECOWAS lead president on Guinea-Bissau at the time.
The award also recognises Badejo’s wider United Nations career, including his service as deputy special representative of the secretary-general for Somalia and other senior positions focused on peace, stability and democratic institutions.
It is the second national honour Badejo has received in recent years. In November 2025, Djibouti decorated him with its National Order of 27 June 1977 for his contribution to peace efforts in Somalia, including his role at the Arta Peace Conference.
Badejo retired from the United Nations in 2017 and has since continued to work on peace and governance. He is the author of Somalia Just Before Al-Shabaab: Why Peace Was Elusive.