Three slain Indian peacekeepers honoured at the UN

Betwa Sharma
United Nations, May 30 (PTI) Three Indian peacekeepers
who died during operations in South Sudan and Congo last year,
have been honoured posthumously at the United Nations, in a
ceremony marked as the International Day of Peacekeepers.
Sanjay Kumar and Vijay Subhasha died in the South Sudan
mission in August and September 2009 respectively.
Baljit Singh died in June 2009 serving the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC).
The top UN official for peacekeeping Alain Le Roy handed
over the Dag Hammarskjold medal to the officials of the
Indian mission that will be passed on to the family of the
deceased.
The UN Saturday remembered 218 fallen troops during the
past year.
"This year's commemoration is a sombre one. The past 14
months have been especially deadly for United Nations
peacekeeping," UN chief Ban Ki-moon said.
Last week, an Indian peacekeeper was also killed 80
kilometers north of Goma, the volatile DRC capital of
North-Kivu province.
On Saturday, the UN also honoured its 96 personnel that
it lost in the earthquake in Haiti - the biggest single loss
of life in the history of United Nations peacekeeping.
"Ambushes in Darfur, terrorism in Kabul and a plane crash
in Haiti ... These were among the tragedies that struck
peacekeeping last year, killing 121 people. That toll was
nearly matched in a few seconds with the devastating
earthquake that struck Haiti last January," the UN chief said.
The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers,
which is marked on May 29, was established by the General
Assembly in 2002 to pay tribute to all men and women serving
in UN peacekeeping. PTI BS
RBT


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