United Nations staff in Somalia today observed a moment of silence in memory of the UN peacekeepers killed recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the world body’s flag flown at half-mast in remembrance of the fallen “blue helmets.”

Speaking at the event held on UN premises in the capital, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Somalia, Raisedon Zenenga, said the death of the peacekeepers was a major loss to the UN family. “The loss of any UN colleague diminishes all of us in the same way as the death of any human being in any part of the world,” the UN official added.

On 7 December 2017, 15 UN peacekeepers from Tanzania serving with the UN Mission in the country – known by the acronym MONUSCO – were killed and another 53 were injured in an attack on their base in the eastern DRC. Five Congolese soldiers also died in the same attack.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the incident as one of the worst attacks on the United Nations in recent history.