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Join on Telegram Rabat – Members of the UN Security Council offer their “deepest” condolences to Morocco following the death of a Moroccan peacekeeper in the Central African Republic (CAR) on Thursday.
The Moroccan blue helmet peacekeeper was a member of the Royal Armed Forces, part of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
In a statement on Friday, the 15 members of the Security Council expressed their deepest condolences and sympathy to the family of the peacekeeper, to Morocco, and to the United Nations.
The statement further condemned the attack leading to the death of the Moroccan soldier. The attack took place on the airfield of Obo, southeast of the Central African Republic.
For his part, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed, in a statement issued by his spokesman, his deepest condolences to the family, and to the Moroccan people. Guterres said that MINUSCA opened an investigation to establish the facts regarding the peacekeeper’s death.
The UN chief equally expressed his condolences to Morocco’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, Omar Hilale.
The Under-Secretary-General and Head of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, also extended his sympathy to Hilale.
“I thank once again Morocco for its commitment and support to our operations, despite the very heavy price that has resulted,” he said, adding that the UN “will do its utmost to ensure that the culprits are held accountable for this act.”
In a tweet, Lacroix expressed his sincere condolences to the relatives of the Moroccan peacekeeper.
The Security Council and the UNSG stressed that attacks on UN peacekeepers constitute a war crime under international law.
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