Timor-Leste: UN mission remembers 2 peacekeepers killed in Bali blast

The United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) today held a memorial service for two UN peacekeepers killed in last month’s bomb explosion at a Bali nightclub.

Both Sgt. Marco Antônio Farias of Brazil and Pvt. Diogo Miguel Dantas Ribeirinho of Portugal have been missing since the terrorist incident occurred on 12 October while they were on holiday from the Mission.

In a packed Motael Church in Dili, the two soldiers were praised by their colleagues as “loyal and dedicated soldiers and thoughtful and helpful friends” who will be long remembered.

Attendees at the ceremony included the deputy chief of UNMISET, Sukehiro Hazegawa, the commander of UN forces in Timor-Leste, Maj. Gen. Huck Gim Tan, other members of the peacekeeping contingents and representatives of the diplomatic community. Sergeant Farias’s father, Lt. Antônio Carlos da Silva Farias, who had travelled from Brazil, also attended the service.

This was the second ceremony in Timor-Leste related to the Bali bombing. On 20 October, President Xanana Gusmão led a memorial service in Dili to remember all the victims of the tragedy.