From Africa Recovery, Vol.12#1 (August 1998), Watch page

Promoting Angolan peace, UN envoy Beye dies in crash

UN Special Representative in Angola Alioune Blondin Beye and seven of his colleagues were killed on 25 June 1998 when their aircraft crashed in Côte d'Ivoire. Mr. Beye, a "dedicated and dynamic peacemaker," as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called him, was on one of his many diplomatic missions to seek support for the Angolan peace process.

A barrister and expert in international law, Mr. Beye served as foreign minister of Mali in 1978-86 and as a senior official at the African Development Bank, before being named Special Representative in Angola. At the time of his arrival there in June 1993, the country was in the midst of a renewed civil war between the government and the UNITA rebel movement, following the failure of previous settlement attempts. Mr. Beye persuaded the two sides to resume talks, and after nearly a year of difficult negotiations, they signed the Lusaka Protocol in November 1994. Despite some progress toward demobilization, implementation of the accord has been slow and rocky, with Mr. Beye constantly urging the protagonists to carry through on their agreement.

At a memorial service in New York for Mr. Beye and his team, the UN Secretary-General paid homage to "colleagues fallen in the cause of peace" and hoped that Angola would one day be united and at peace, so that their deaths would not be in vain. Killed with Mr. Beye were: Mr. Koffi Adjoyi from Togo, Mr. Beandegar Dessande from Chad, Mr. Amadou Moctar Gueye from Senegal, Mr. Ibikunle Williams from Nigeria, Mr. Alvaro Costa from Portugal, and their pilots, Mr. Jason Hunter and Mr. Andrew McCurrach, from South Africa.

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