Egypt’s service to UN peacekeeping over the decades

Egyptian peacekeepers with UNAMID distribute water and flour to the local population in Um Kadada (North Darfur) in September 2011.

Doctor First Lieutenant Mohamed Ismad Anwar, a member of the UNAMID Egyptian contingent based in North Darfur, is examining a patient at the clinic at the team site. The Egyptian medical personnel always see the local population if needed. (September 2011)

Thirty-nine Egyptian peacekeepers have lost their lives while serving with the UN. Seen here, an Egyptian peacekeeper prays beside the coffins of two colleagues killed in action in South Darfur in May 2010. Three other peacekeepers were seriously wounded in an ambush carried out by a group of unidentified armed men.

Egypt ranks number one among Arab countries in contributing personnel to UN peacekeeping. Seen here is Major Ahmed Il Gohary (front left), Chief Security Officer with the Egyptian UN Police unit serving in the Central African Republic, while on patrol. The unit’s primary duty is to protect civilians in its area of operation within the capital, Bangui. (April 2018)

“It’s an honour to be a peacekeeper; to serve people you don’t know,” said Major Il Gohary (left), a native of Cairo who started working with the UN in 2010. Prior to Central African Republic, he served with the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan. He said his wife and children back in Egypt are proud of him for serving with the UN. (April 2018)

An Egyptian peacekeeper observes the activity of the city of Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), from the heights of Mount Goma. Egypt first joined UN peacekeeping in 1960 in the Congo. (January 2016)

An Egyptian battalion patrol in the surroundings of Camp Lieutenant General Jean-Lucien Bauma, which is hosting former FDLR combatants, in Kisangani, in DRC’s Oriental Province. (January 2015)

Troops from the Egyptian Special Forces Contingent serving with the UN mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) carry out tactical training in South Kivu to enhance their responsiveness in dealing with armed groups as outlined in the mission’s mandate. (January 2018)

Members of the Egyptian Special Forces perform during a medal parade in Bukavu, DRC, in October 2013.