Rabat, May 25 -- Moroccan Corporal Rachid Abarki perished on April 24, 2018, while serving under the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic.

During a ceremony at the UN headquarters to honor the 119 soldiers, police officers and civilians who lost their lives in peacekeeping operations in 2018 and 2019, the Dag Hammarskjold medal was handed by UNSG Antonio Guterres to deputy permanent representative of Morocco to the UN Omar Kadiri, in the presence of military advisor to Morocco's permanent mission to the UN, Colonel Abdelhak Mhasni.

A moment of silence was subsequently observed in memory of the fallen UN soldiers and staff.

In a speech on the occasion, Guterres said that today'...