SECRETARY-GENERAL MOURNS UN STAFF DEATHS IN KOSOVO, BURUNDI

Press Release
SG/SM/7171

SECRETARY-GENERAL MOURNS UN STAFF DEATHS IN KOSOVO, BURUNDI

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

Once again today, we mourn the loss of irreplaceable colleagues. We mourn Valentin Krumov of Bulgaria, who was killed in Kosovo on the day he reported for duty. We mourn Luis Zuniga of Chile and another colleague who were killed in an ambush in Burundi. All three made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of peace.

Our thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of those killed. They go to all the men and women of the United Nations family who risk their lives every day to work in an environment that poses ever greater danger.

Let us honour the lives of these three individuals with a prayer that their work for peace will not have been in vain. Let us remember that their work was dedicated to creating an environment where innocent civilians will no longer be the first victims of conflict. And let us insist that the killers be brought to justice.

* *** *