NEW YORK (TOP) - The Oekusi Post (TOP) and Radio and Television Timor-Leste, Public Company (RTTL, E.P) witnessed how a great master of world diplomacy and Nobel Peace Laureate decorated his former close friend in a difficult situation while carrying out the UN mission in Guinea-Bissau.
At some point, true friendship is not born at the dinner table or daily social gathering. It lives in the corridors of the UN, in strategic discussions that understand the risk between life and death for populations, and in decisions that need to be taken immediately in a difficult context of conflict. This story, about how professional relationships become stronger friendships, is the root of the decoration that President José Ramos-Horta gave today to Professor Babafemi A. Badejo, Ph.D., LL.B., at the Permanent Mission of Timor-Leste in New York, Monday, 21 September 2026.
In 2013, when Ramos-Horta took over as the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Guinea-Bissau, a country with a history of political instability and a history of military coups, he was looking for a team he could trust. In the position of Chief of Staff, Professor Babafemi Badejo, a Nigerian lawyer and academic with extensive experience in Darfur and Somalia, was one of the names chosen to work closely with Ramos-Horta.
The Chief of Staff is not just an administrative post. In the context of preventive diplomacy, this function means constant presence at meetings where conflict tensions are rising, understanding local political and cultural sensitivities, and giving honest advice, even when words are not easy to hear. During the period January 2013 to June 2014, the two worked together in a context that required total trust.
Scholars in the world of international diplomacy often mention that friendships formed in difficult work contexts are often more durable than friendships formed under normal circumstances. When two people together face the great challenge of between the life and death of a population, the stability of a region, the two figures begin to learn to know each other on a deeper level through a single daily conversation.
Ramos-Horta himself, before receiving the task of Guinea-Bissau, he had assumed the position of Under-Secretary-General in the UN system as the first Timorese to reach this level during the history of the UN. He understood, from firsthand experience, how necessary it was to have someone who believed in his permission. Babafemi Badejo became this person.
After the end of the Guinea-Bissau mission, Ramos-Horta continued his international work as Chairman of the High-Level Panel on UN Peace Operations (2014–2016), and then as Chairman of the High-Level Council on Mediation under UN Secretary-General António Guterres in 2017 until 2019. Babafemi Badejo in his band, continues to contribute to UN missions in other conflict-affected regions.
Although these paths are separated by geography and position, the links formed in Guinea-Bissau have never been lost. This is what President Ramos-Horta reflected today, when he described Badejo as "a true friend of Timor-Leste", not just diplomatic words for the official ceremony, but recognition of shared experience.
The Order of Timor-Leste Medal, awarded under Presidential Decree No. 107/2026, is particularly interesting because it shows how personal relationships can become institutional contributions. The friendship between Ramos-Horta and Babafemi Badejo was not born from a formal diplomatic agreement, but from a time of working together in difficult times, and today, the State of Timor-Leste recognizes this friendship as part of the greatest contribution to humanity.
In his speech, President Ramos-Horta said that Babafemi Badejo's tireless efforts laid a foundation for stability in some of the world's most challenging regions, a description that, when seen in the context of the two friendships, goes beyond simple professional praise. It is recognition of a partner who proves his or her faith through time.
The ceremony in New York wasn’t just official state protocol. With the presence of family and friends of Babafemi Badejo, this moment became a celebration of human relationships, the story of how bonds formed in difficult contexts can survive time and geographical distance, and how true friendship has also managed to influence the course of national diplomacy.
For Timor-Leste, a small country that itself recognizes the value of international friendship during the process of independence and reconstruction, the story of President Ramos-Horta and Babafemi Badejo is a powerful example, that the most effective diplomacy often begins with sincere human connection, and relationships that can be built in the context of cooperation durable international.
Reporting by Raimundos Oki from Timor-Leste's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, USA.
