UN Secretary General Honors Lives of Fallen Peacekeepers, Including Moroccan Soldiers

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres marked on May 25 the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers and the 75th anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping operations by delivering Dag Hammarskjold medals for the 103 soldiers who lost their lives last year under the UN flag while trying to keep peace, among whom were seven Moroccans.

Rabat – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres marked on May 25 the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers and the 75th anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping operations by delivering Dag Hammarskjold medals for the 103 soldiers who lost their lives last year under the UN flag while trying to keep peace, among whom were seven Moroccans.

“This is a sad opportunity to express our sympathy to their families, friends, colleagues, and to the Moroccan people,” said Fethi Debbabi, Director of the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) in Rabat, extending his condolences to the fallen soldiers’ relatives, stressing that “peacekeeping is also a mission of sacrifice.”

Debbabi also highlighted the noble work carried out by the Blue Helmets saying missions often take place in difficult environments and are characterized by great challenges.

Over the past 75 years, more than 2 million peacekeepers from 125 countries have worked in 71 operations around the world. Today, 87,000 women and men work in 12 conflict zones across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Press meeting with peacekeeping colonels at UNIC

Thursday’s event was an opportunity for the Moroccan press to dig through the Moroccan Blue Helmets’s peacekeeping mission in trying to preserve and maintain peace in the Central Africa region.

Colonel AbdelHak Ouchbir, Head of Strategic Defense Support and Coordinator of Liaison Teams with MINUSCA, and Lieutenant Colonel Malika Sedra, Head of the Civil-Military Actions Office in the same mission, attended the online media meeting from the city of Benghazi in Libya.

The two high-ranking officers highlighted the Moroccan soldiers’ efforts to help maintain peace and order in the Central African Republic.

Debbabi shed light on the importance of the role the Kingdom of Morocco plays in the efforts of the United Nations to maintain peace in the world.

He mentioned that Morocco has been supporting international peacekeeping efforts since 1960. The country currently ranks eleventh among the largest contributors to United Nations peacekeeping operations, with more than 1,700 Moroccan army and police personnel operating in Abyei, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan.