New York – The UN paid a tribute to the Moroccan Blue Helmets who passed away in 2011 while serving in UN peacekeeping missions.
During a ceremony celebrating the International Day of the UN Peacekeepers, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon awarded the Dag Hammarskjold medal to Military Adviser of Morocco’s permanent Mission to the UN Colonel Omar El Khadir in posthumous tribute to Moroccan Blue Helmets Ali Assadiq and Yassine Gourdi.
Ali Assadiq died on January 12, while serving in the UN peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire, while Yassine Gourdi, who was deployed with the UN peacekeeping mission in the DR of Congo, passed away on July 3.
Moroccan troops have been taking part in UN peacekeeping missions since 1960. The Moroccan peacekeepers were deployed by the UN in countries such as the Congo, Angola, Somalia and Cambodia and Haiti.
Currently 1600 Moroccan soldiers are deployed as part of the UN’s two peacekeeping missions in the DR of Congo and in Côte d’Ivoire. Morocco is also represented in the UN mission in Syria.
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