Today is the anniversary of the helicopter crash near Fojnica when twelve members of the Office of the High Representative and the United Nations Mission were killed whilst en route to Bugojno.

The High Representative, Carlos Westendorp, and all of his staff express their most sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims on this particularly painful day.

We remind of the words spoken by the High Representative at a memorial service held last year in remembrance of the victims: "Our sense of loss covers both the personal and professional domain. The lives of those whom we mourn today do indeed reflect honour on the countries and the cultures which shaped them. But theirs was not the pursuit of national self interest. They were unselfish members of a community, striving to bring peace and stability to this region. We honour them today. Let us pray that peace and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be their true and lasting memorial. Those who are left behind are poorer without them but richer for having known them."