Credit: UN  Photo/Eskinder Debebe /   May 24, 2019. Wreath-laying Ceremony to Honour Fallen Peacekeepers. Secretary-General António Guterres (centre right) places a wreath in honour of fallen peacekeepers, in observance of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers at world headquarters in New York City.

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –  The UN paid tribute Friday to peacekeepers who have lost their lives protecting civilians in conflict areas around the world. Ever since the UN deployed the first of its 72 peacekeeping missions back in 1948, more than 3,800 peacekeepers have lost their lives, Secretary-General António Guterres said  Friday, at a wreath laying ceremony in honour of those “brave men and women” who serve. 

In annual memorial, UN pays tribute to 140 fallen staff members

Credit: UN Photo Eskinder Debebe /   UN Secretary-General Guterres (centre right) greets Lachel Chitete Mwenechanya, widow of late Peacekeeper Chancy Chitete from Malawi, during a wreath-laying ceremony honouring fallen peacekeepers, in observance of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers (29 May). Private Chitete is honoured with the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for his “brave and selfless” action during an operation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in November 2018, when he sustained fatal injuries saving a fellow UN peacekeeper who survived.

”Were it not for the sacrifices of United Nations peacekeepers, humanitarians and other personnel, the people who needed urgent support in the most difficult and dangerous environments would have experienced greater suffering,” the top UN official said Thursday in an annual memorial service for fallen colleagues.

“I wish we never had to mourn the loss of colleagues,”   Guterres said at the ceremony held at UN Headquarters in New York to remember 140 personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty between 1 July 2016 and 31 December 2017. “But the sad fact is that people do lose their lives while serving the United Nations, and it is our duty to honour their service and sacrifice,” he said.   Since 2011, the UN Secretariat has held an annual memorial service to honour fallen colleagues.  Of the 140 killed, 123 were military personnel; three police; and 14 civilians. They came from 42 nations.

UN Undertakes Plan To  Reduce Number Of Fatalities of Peacekeepers.

Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Diplomatic Times / Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers speaks at press conference at UN headquarters in New York May 24, 2019.

UN Mission In West Africa Mali  Is The Deadliest In The World For Peacekeepers

Last month on April 20,  a United Nations peacekeeper from Egypt was killed and four others injured in an improvised explosive device attack on a convoy in central Mali’s Mopti region.  Since 2013, when MINUSMA deployed,   nearly 200 peacekeepers have died in Mali, including close to  120 killed during hostilities.   The deadly violence has spiraled out of control this year, in particular, despite the presence of thousands of UN and international peacekeeping troops in Mali,  and across the Sahel region.

Diplomatic Times / Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations

“We have, under the guidance of the UNSG, undertaken number of efforts, including plan to reduce the number of fatalities the past year and half. We think of these fallen peacekeepers and it only doubles our determination to continue what has already been undertaken,”  Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers said at  press conference at UN headquarters in New York  Friday.  . “Last year we had less fatalities, as result of effort.  Our peacekeepers are still under heavy threat. We’ve seen that in January when more than 10 of our peacekeepers lost their life in Mali as result of attack.”   Major challenges for nations participating in peacekeeping efforts, particularly in Africa G5 Sahel,   is a lack of funding to address threats, and secure areas, and oftentimes the nation’s armed forces are  not capable of addressing growing terror and ethnic attacks. 

Lacroix emphasized that “ultimately, the most important thing we can do is help achieve political solution. We cannot do that alone. We need support of our member states, regional, sub-regional  organizations. I work a lot with Africa Union. We have a great partnership with them. Thanks to these efforts  we helped secured peace agreement in the Central African Republic which now has to be implemented. I takes partnership.”

Peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo are among the most dangerous