[Memo] In Memoriam. Diplomats and soldiers who died on mission for Europe (v22)
(B2) According to B2's balance sheet, 78 people died and 42 have been injured in the context of a European Union peacekeeping or stabilization mission, or a diplomatic mission, since the start of European foreign policy in the former Yugoslavia in 1991.
(B2) According to B2's balance sheet, 78 people died and 42 have been injured in the context of a European Union peacekeeping or stabilization mission, or a diplomatic mission, since the start of European foreign policy in the former Yugoslavia in 1991.
| Date | Assignment/Delegation | Nationality | Death | Wounded | Type | Circumstances |
| Total | 78 | 42 | ||||
| Wednesday January 12 2022 | EUNAVFOR Atalanta | Spanish (military) | 1 | Injury | A wounded soldier aboard the Victoria evacuated by helicopter to Djibouti | |
| Friday October 29 2021 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bulgarian (military) | 1 | Firearm. Cause unknown (suicide?) | At 8:20 a.m., the soldier was found dead, "with a bullet wound", in the Butmir camp, in Sarajevo. The medical team who arrived on the spot could only confirm the death. A military police investigation is ongoing. Details | |
| September 14th, 2021 | EUTM Mali | Military Spaniards | 0 | 3 | Road accident | A mission vehicle collided with a 10-ton truck in the circle of Katl. Read : Three Spanish EUTM soldiers injured |
| Sunday, March 21 2021 | EUCAP Somalia | Finnish (civilian) | 1 | 3 | Disease | On secondment from the Crisis Management Center (CMC) Finland, he died in Nairobi hospital on 21 March. He had contracted the COVID-19 virus while serving in Somalia, the EU mission said. |
| Monday, September 30, 2019 | EUTM Somalia | 3 Italians | 3 | IED attack | Three soldiers were injured when their vehicle was attacked by a vehicle filled with explosives in Mogadishu. Read : Three Italian soldiers from EUTM Somalia injured in a bomb attack (v2) | |
| Friday May 18 2018 | EUTM Mali | Spanish (military) | 1 | 2 | Road accident | Loss of control 40 km south of Sévaré |
| Wednesday February 14 2018 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | slovaque | 1 | Disease | Peter Pavlovský, a 42-year-old major from Zamarovce (Trenčín) saw his health suddenly deteriorate. After first aid at the Butmir camp (Sarajevo), he was transported to the hospital where he died" indicates the ministry Slovak defense. | |
| Sunday June 18 2017 | EUTM Mali EU Delegation to Mali | 1 Portuguese + 1 Malian (dead) + 1 Swedish officer (wounded) | 2 | 1 | Terrorist attack | While the EU employees are resting in a hotel complex, the Camp, two terrorist teams, armed, on motorcycles and in cars, appear and fire. Among the victims: Portuguese Staff Sergeant Gil Fernando Paiva Benido, and a Malian woman, Malado Sidibé, assistant to the head of the political section of the EU delegation in Bamako. Read : Terrorist attack on Le Campement hotel near Bamako. Deaths among Europeans. |
| Tuesday March 7 2017 | EUTM RCA | 1 French soldier (1st artillery regiment) | 1 | Illness (malaria) | After his return to France on February 11, Anthony Rémy dies of a serious form of malaria contracted in the Central African Republic. Read : A soldier who returned from EUTM RCA dies… of malaria | |
| Sunday 17 May 2015 | EUPOL Afghanistan | 1 British, security guard + 2 injured | 1 | 2 | Attack – car bomb | Lire: Attack in Kabul. A member of the EUPOL Afghanistan mission killed (V2) |
| Tuesday May 12th 2015 | EULEX Kosovo | 1 injured (medic) | 1 | Accident | Emergency landing of the Medevac helicopter (private) on a training flight at Pristina airport: Accident of a EULEX Kosovo helicopter at Pristina airport. 1 injured | |
| Friday March 6 2015 | EU Delegation Mali | 1 Belgian (security guard) | 1 | Assault – machine gun | Terrorist attack carried out in a restaurant in Bamako: Attack in Bamako, several European victims | |
| Wednesday November 5 2014 | EUFOR CAR | 1 French | 1 | Illness (malaria) | Master Corporal Heiarii Nelson Temata Moana of the 126th Infantry Regiment (126th RI) suffered from a serious attack of malaria. Repatriated to France, he died at the Beguin hospital in the Paris region. | |
| Wednesday October 15 2014 | EUFOR CAR | 1 injured (Spanish) | 0 | 1 | Grenade shooting | Clashes with “armed bands”. 1 grenade thrown. European forces retaliate. At least 5 dead in the ranks of the attackers. Read : In Bangui. A game-changing incident? |
| Wednesday August 20 2014 | EUFOR CAR | 5 injured (including one seriously) + 4 "stunned" by a grenade shot | 0 | 5 | Grenade shooting | Clashes with demonstrators. Grenade and rifle fire. The Sangaris operation counts 3 wounded, including 1 seriously. That is 12 injured in total. Details |
| Monday July 7 2014 | EUFOR CAR | 3 wounded (French) | 0 | 3 | Grenade shooting | Clashes with demonstrators – a hand grenade explodes – 3 slightly injured, including one in the hand. |
| Saturday 24 May 2014 | EUCAP Nestor / EUNAVFOR Atalanta | 12 injured (3 Spaniards, 6 Dutch, 3 Germans) including 2 seriously | 0 | 12 | Attack - grenade | Terrorist attack (Shebab?) in a restaurant in Djibouti frequented by expatriates. 3 dead (including 1 Turk and 2 Kamikazes) and several European wounded. Details |
| Mon May 5, 2014 | EU Delegation Yemen | 1 French + 2 wounded (French and Yemenite) (private security guards + driver) | 1 | 2 | Attack – shooting | Automatic weapon fired at the vehicle in which the 2 officers and their driver were |
| Fri, January 17, 2014 | EUPOL Afghanistan | 1 Danish (reporting officer) + 1 British (private security guard) | 2 | Assassination | Taliban attack (kamikaze and shooting) in a restaurant in Kabul very frequented by expatriates - many killed and injured. Among the dead, the Danish Mette Nielsen. details, | |
| Sun, October 27, 2013 | EUPOL Copps | 1 Lithuanian | 1 | Accident | Road accident in the West Bank. details, | |
| Thu 19 Sep 2013 (morning) | EULEX Kosovo | 1 Lithuanian (contractual customs) + 1 Czech (wounded) | 1 | 1 | Shooting (killing) | Shots (deliberate) against two Eulex cars traveling between Gate 1 and Mitrovica (relief). 1 agent killed in the head + 1 injured (Czech). details, |
| Tue 12 March 2013 | EU Delegation Syria | 1 Syrian | 1 | Conflict. rocket fire | Hit by rocket fire in the district of Damascus where he lived. Employed in the political service, Ahmad Shihadeh was killed during a rocket attack in the district of Deraya, where he lived. details, | |
| Sun, April 15, 2012 | EUSEC DR Congo | 1 French | 1 | Disease | Cap. Jean-Luc Guérard (France), died in Goma of a heart attack. | |
| Friday April 22 2011 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 Briton injured | 0 | 1 | Road accident | Near Gornji Vakuf. James Gordon Glierson, who is riding a motorcycle, is seriously injured after hitting a freight truck. Read :Eufortian seriously injured in road accident in Bosnia |
| Fri, April 16, 2010 | EUCO Haiti / Spain | 4 Spaniards (military) | 4 | Accident | helicopter crash | |
| Tuesday January 12 2010 | EU Delegation Haiti | 1 Spaniard (civilian) + 2 Haitians (local agents) | 3 | Natural disaster | Diplomat (Boal Pilar Juarez) died in the collapse of the United Nations building in Port au Prince during the earthquake | |
| Sunday December 6 2009 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 Polish (military) | 1 | Disease | Soldier found dead in the morning at Camp Butmir without "known reason" | |
| Sunday June 21 2009 | EUMM Georgia | 1 Georgian (paramedic) | 1 | Mine IED | During one of the EUMM patrols, the accompanying ambulance from MediClub hits a mine near the border or "administrative boundary" with Abkhazia. Read : Georgia: a mine explodes | |
| Thursday June 19 2008 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2 Germans + 2 Spaniards (military) | 4 | helicopter crash | Helicopter crash north of Travnik. Details | |
| Monday April 7 2008 | EUFOR Chad CAR | 2 French (military) | 2 | Friendly fire | Two French legionnaires - Chief Sergeant Djiakariaou DIALLO of Guinean origin and Corporal Eugen EFTIMIU of Romanian origin of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) - as well as a Togolese soldier and a Chadian peasant) killed by one of their own , a legionnaire, seized by a "attack of madness" at the Camp des Etoiles in Abéché (Chad) | |
| Saturday March 1 2008 | EUFOR Chad CAR | 1 French (military) | 1 | enemy fire | Sergeant Gilles Paulin (1st RPIMA) killed following a clash with the Sudanese forces while he was on reconnaissance in Abou Jaradil - commune of Darfour (Sudan). He is said to have accidentally crossed the Chad-Sudan border. Read : First death in operation for Eufor | |
| Friday January 11 2008 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | 11 Macedonians (military) | 11 | helicopter crash | Helicopter crash (Mi-17 of the Macedonian forces) 10 km from Skopje at the end of the mission. | |
| September 17, 2007 (night) | EC Delegation Morocco | 1 Italian (head of delegation) | 1 | Home Assassination (Private) | The head of the EU delegation in Rabat (Morocco), the Italian Alessandro Missir di Lusignano and his wife (Belgian), Ariane Lagasse de Locht, found murdered in their home. They had just arrived in Rabat. The hypothesis of a burglary that went wrong is officially mentioned. But it could rather be an assassination by a relative Read report La Libre) | |
| Saturday September 22 2007 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 French (military) | 1 | Other | Chief Marshal David Christian LECLERC, of the 1st Artillery Regiment (1st RA), dies at Gacko - exit towards Bileca | |
| Tuesday, February 6 2007 | EC Delegation Ivory Coast | 1 French (head of security) | 1 | Killed at home (private) by firearm | Michel Niaucel, former commander of the Gendarmerie, in charge of the security of the delegation, found dead at home by firearm. The hypothesis of a suicide has been raised | |
| Tuesday October 3 2006 | EUFOR DR Congo | Collateral losses | 0 | Drone accident | Crash of a B-Hunter drone belonging to the Belgian contingent 1 km from the airport: 1 civilian killed and 3 injured on bd Triomphal | |
| Friday February 17 2006 | MA Aceh (Indonesia) | 1 French (political adviser) | 1 | Accidental drowning | The French diplomat, political adviser to the AMM, Denis Faucounau, disappears at sea while swimming in the north of the island of Sumatra | |
| Thursday, November 17 2005 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 Italian killed (+ 1 injured) | 1 | 1 | Road accident | Italian Carabinieri Chief Marshal Antonino Aiello is killed in a road accident near Konjic, approx. 40 km south of Sarajevo. Sergeant Davide Bregolin seriously injured in the accident was taken to the local hospital in Konjic. Their vehicle overturned on an embankment on the Sarajevo-Mostar route. They were members of the MSU unit (EUFOR Multinational Police Specialized Unit) |
| Tuesday July 26 2005 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 Austrian | 1 | Suicide | 22-year-old soldier who died at Camp Eeaglebase in Tuzla before returning to Sarajevo. Circumstances not officially known. Presumably suicide | |
| Tuesday June 28 2005 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3 | Accident | (to complete) | ||
| Saturday April 2 2005 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 Greek (policeman) | 1 | Road accident | Member of military police contingent killed in road accident | |
| Saturday September 11 2004 | EUFOR Althea Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 French (military) | 1 | Road accident | Hussar radiographer 1st class Sébastien Patrick Marc FOUQUET of the 2nd hussar regiment (2nd RH) dies in Rajlovac hospital (Bosnia-Herzegovina). He had an accident in his P4 vehicle between Rastelica and Tarcin. | |
| Monday January 26 2004 | EUPM Bosnia | 1 Danish (police commissioner) | 1 | Disease | Sven Frederiksen, the head of mission dies of sudden cardiac arrest, 56 years old. | |
| Friday July 20 2001 | EUMM Fyrom | 2 observers (Norwegian, Slovenian) + 1 interpreter (Albanian) | 3 | Mine IED | NB: the Commissioner's statement pattern | |
| Thursday September 17 1998 | OHR Bosnia | 12 dead (diplomats), 5 Germans, 1 British, 1 Pole and 5 Americans. | 12 | Accident | Crash of a Ukrainian Mi8 helicopter (chartered by the United Nations) near Bugojno (central Bosnia). Among the victims, Gerd Wagner, Westendorp's deputy, the diplomat responsible for ensuring compliance with the Dayton agreements. NB: the post of high representative of the international community, even if it is not formally an EU mission, counted, the staff being provided largely by Europeans. | |
| Wednesday November 19 1997 | ECMM Yugoslavia | 1 French (observer) | 1 | Defenestration – enemy | Lieutenant Commander Yvon Graff (49), deputy head of the EEC observers, member of the marine commando rifle unit (FMC), was found dead, outside the window, in front of Hotel I in Belgrade. This act, interpreted as a suicide at the origin, could be an act of the Serbian services according to certain sources. His death was also reclassified as "combat action". Biography | |
| Saturday 2 May 1992 | ECMM Yugoslavia - EC Observer Mission in Yugoslavia | 1 Belgian (observer) | 1 | Direct enemy fire | Commander Bertrand Borrey is shot dead by Yugoslav Federal Army soldiers near Mostar, Bosnia | |
| Tuesday January 7 1992 | ECMM Yugoslavia - EC Observer Mission in Yugoslavia | 4 Italians 1 French (observers) | 5 | Enemy fire in Podrute Novi Marof (Croatia) | Killed in the crash of their helicopter hit "by mistake" by shots from a Mig of the Yugoslav (Serbian) air force. "An unfortunate set of circumstances" linked to the "extremely difficult situation prevailing in the airspace", explains, at the time, tongue-in-cheek, the Yugoslav Ministry of Defense! The white signage of the device as the identification messages were however obvious. The aircraft was piloted by Colonel Venturini. Among them the passengers, the French corvette captain Jean-Loup Bernard Guy EYCHENNE, corvette captain of the Forfusco commandos of the aircraft carrier Clemenceau. Read : The first EU 'deaths on mission' were 20 years ago | |
| September 11th, 1991 | Troika EC Yugoslavia | No injuries | 0 | enemy fire | A Mi 8 helicopter carrying Ambassador Winaents is hit by gunfire (probably from the Yugoslav army). No casualties | |
| ©B2 Brussels2 | Update | 16/02/22 |
NB: the balance sheet has been reviewed several times: 1. to integrate the members of the office of the special representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2. to integrate soldiers not taken into account in the first draft (victims in the early days of the ESDP).
Last updated: 12.1.2022
