President expresses condolences over death of Lankan peacekeeping personnel

President Maithripala Sirisena today (Jan 27) issued a special message expressing his condolences over the death of two Sri Lankan peacekeeping personnel in Mali last week.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on January 26 issued a special statement expressing his condolonces while deploring the attack which took place on January 25.

The message is as follows :

I was deeply saddened and shocked by the news of two great sons of Sri Lanka sacrificing their lives while serving the mission of world peacekeeping. I pay my respect and honour to them as they died in the cause of world peace process to ensure the independence of mankind.

Based on Sri Lanka’s respectable relationships among international communities and organizations, these soldiers were ensuring the independence and democracy of the mankind while serving in the United Nations Peacekeeping when this tragedy occurred.

Captain H.W.D. Jayawickrama and Corporal S.S. Wijewickrama of Sri Lanka Army have sacrificed their lives in this incident. In addition, three more members of Sri Lanka Army were seriously injured. They have made these scarifies to an indispensable cause on behalf of their country.

The war heroes, who sacrificed their lives in the battlefield without any glimpse of fear, extended their hands towards the world peace process. In any country, there are handfuls of people who concern themselves selflessly by distancing themselves from selfishness. These great sons enter the history of mankind as war heroes and will be remembered for their heroism.   

I, as the President of this country, would like to extend my deepest sympathies towards the family of Captain H.W.D Jayawickckrama and Corporal S. S Wijekumara.

I earnestly hope other three war heroes injured at the incident will have all the strength to recover soon. 

- Maithripala Sirisena