File Photo: Soldiers from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) take part in the traditional Bastille Day military parade in Paris July 14, 2013. (REUTERS)
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned in a statement Sunday an attack with an improvised explosive device Saturday morning targeting a convoy of the United Nations Integrated Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), extending his condolences to the Egyptian government and the family of an Egyptian peacekeeper killed in the attack.
A UN peacekeeper was killed and four others wounded Saturday when a mine exploded as their convoy passed through central Mali, the UN mission in the country said.
The blast hit part of the Egyptian contingent of the UN force close to the Burkina Faso border, MINUSMA said Saturday.
Guterres reiterated that attacks against UN peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law. He also called on Malian authorities to take rapid action to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
Egypt ranked third largest in countries contributing to UN peacekeeping operations in the current period, according to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). There are a total of 729 Egyptian officers and police personnel serving in UN peacekeeping operations in various countries, Egypt's interior ministry said in 2017.
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