Three Zambian peacekeepers to be awarded posthumously

Three Zambian peacekeepers who died last year while serving in the United Nations peacekeeping operations will be among others to be awarded the Dag Hammarskold medals posthumously, state-owned Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) reported Saturday.

The three are major Philip Chanda who died in Sierra Leone, corporal Trigor Usaki and constable Chunika Kangwa who died in Sudan, ZANIS cited a statement released by the country's mission to the Untied Nations.

The commemorative ceremony would be held on May 30 in New York, ZANIS said.

UN Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping operations Jean- Marie Guehenno would award peacekeeping medals to the military and police officers currently serving in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Guehenno was cited as saying while the Dag Hammarskjold medals paid tribute to the sacrifices of those who died.The greatest monument to their contribution was a set of the United Nations peacekeeping successes in 2006.

He mentioned some of the successes such as helping the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in its first elections in 40 years.

The Dag Hammarskjold medals awarding ceremony will coincide with the fifth International Day of the United Nations Peacekeepers that will be marked on May 29 in New York.

Currently, there were about 100,000 peacekeepers from 115 countries serving in 18 operations on four continents, with additional deployments on the horizon, according to the U.N. official.

Source: Xinhua