All Africa
Maghreb Arabe Presse (Rabat)
UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, who is on a visit to the Central African Republic, paid tribute, Wednesday in Bangassou, to Moroccan and Cambodian peacekeepers killed at the beginning of the year while performing their noble mission of peacekeeping and protection of the local population.
Guterres, who visited the Bangassou local base of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), laid a wreath of flowers in tribute to the two soldiers of the Royal Armed Forces contingent (FAR) killed in an attack on their convoy, as well as to Cambodian peacekeepers also killed earlier this year, said his spokesman in New York, Farhan Haq.
In an address on this occasion, the UN secretary-general expressed his “gratitude” to the military and police contingents present in Bangassou.
Guterres also regretted the death of Moroccan and Cambodian soldiers “who sacrificed their lives for the defense of the rights and security of the Central African people”.
“I had the opportunity to speak to HM the King of Morocco and to convey to him my condolences to the Moroccan people, and I want to do it here in a direct way to all the colleagues and heroic soldiers who have fallen for the defense of peace,” Guterres said.
“I am proud to be your colleague and I am proud to be here with you and to be able to express my gratitude and the gratitude of the United Nations for your work, which is of paramount importance, first of all for the people of the Central African Republic, but also for our organization and for its reputation” around the world, he added.
