FORMER Prime Minister Dr Salim Ahmed Salim has been honoured with the Amlcar Cabral Medal, the highest distinction in Cape Verde.

Dr Salim was bestowed the medal by the President of the Republic of Cape Verde, Dr Jose Maria Neves in a ceremony, where Dr Salim's son Ahmed Salim Ahmed received it on his behalf.

Making the revelation through his Twitter Account over the weekend, Director of Information Services and Chief Government Spokesperson Gerson Msigwa further said: "Congratulations to the former Prime Minister, Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, and thank you for this great honour for our country."

Elaborating, he noted that the award was issued by the Cape Verde Government to recognise Dr Salim's contribution in the efforts to liberate the archipelago from Portuguese colonialism as well as other nations in Africa.

Literally, the Amlcar Cabral Medal is given to the leaders and Heads of State of countries that are friends of Cape Verde.

The medal was named after Amlcar Cabral, who was an Agronomist, who led an armed struggle that ended the Portuguese colonialism in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. The uprising contributed significantly to the collapse of a fascist regime in Lisbon and the dismantlement of Portugal's empire in Africa.

With other Cape Verdean intellectuals and freedom fighters, they fought for their anti-fascist and anti-colonial goals.

After the collapse of the dictatorship in Portugal in 1974 (the Carnation Revolution), which brought independence to Guinea-Bissau, the PAIGCV (today's PAICV) became more public.

Finally, due to omnipresent pressure, the Cape Verde Islands finally became an independent country on July 5, 1975. From 1975 to 1990, a single party ruled by PAICV suppressing popular dissent and sometimes used political imprisonment and torture. Nevertheless, assistance continued from the wealthy states of the "Western World" due to Cape Verdes' neutral foreign policy.