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UN observers in Angola on Wednesday attended a memorial service for colleagues who died aboard two UN aircraft shot down outside the second city of Huambo.
The service, at the headquarters of the UN Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), was held two days before the mandate of the military and police contingent ends on Friday.
Officials told IRIN the UN Security Council would formally ratify the withdrawal of MONUA on Thursday when it is expected “to clarify the status” of other UN operations in Angola.
In recent weeks MONUA personnel monitoring the now shattered UN-brokered 1994 Lusaka Protocol peace accords have been withdrawn from the provinces to the capital Luanda pending their final departure.
UN officials said that they had only been able to make a single preliminary inspection visit to each of the crash sites outside Huambo in the central highlands 600 km southeast of Luanda. The inspections established that the aircraft, both Hercules C-130 transport planes were shot down.
The first aircraft, with 14 UN personnel and crew was brought down on 26 December last year, and the second carrying nine people, a week later on 2 January. The UN has not said who might be responsible for the incidents.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions