Secretary-General ‘saddened’ by deaths of peacekeepers in Sinai

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was ‘saddened’ to learn of the deaths of nine members of the independent peacekeeping force in the Sinai, a United Nations spokesperson said today.

Eight French and one Canadian members of the Multinational Force and Observers, deployed as part of the 1978 Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel, died in an airplane crash yesterday in the desert peninsula.

Mr. Ban expressed his sincere condolences to the bereaved families and to the governments of the victims of the accident, spokesperson Michele Montas said.