UN Headquarters is observing the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on Thursday, 27 May 2021.
Secretary-General António Guterres will lay a wreath to honour the more than 4,000 UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives since 1948 and will preside over a ceremony at which the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal will be awarded posthumously to 129 military, police and civilian peacekeepers from 44 countries, who lost their life serving under the UN flag last year and in the first month of this year.
Among the fallen peacekeepers to be honoured are seven from Rwanda: SM Edouard Nsabiy Aremye, CPL Innocent Nkurunziza, Maj Peter Nsengiyumva, Sgt Jean Nsabimana who served with for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA); Major Vital Rurangwa and Police PC Mbabazi Enid who served with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS: and WO II Hodar Nil Ngarambe who served with the United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
In a message to mark the Day, the Secretary-General said of the fallen peacekeepers: “Their service and sacrifices will never be forgotten.”
Rwanda is currently the 2nd largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping. It currently deploys more than 6,300 military and police personnel to the UN peace operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Haiti, Sudan and South Sudan. (End)