Dear members of the families in mourning, we cannot conceive the depth of your sorrow and I am aware that we can offer you little solace on this sad day. We wish only to remain at your side and to let you know that we too feel an enormous sense of loss. At the same time we want to express our admiration for the work of our six colleagues, your sons and daughters, wives and husbands, sisters and brothers, and to make a pledge: Rita Fox-Stucki, Julio Delgado, Aduwe Boboli, Jean Molokabonge, Véronique Saro and Unen Ufoirworth will live on in our thoughts. We shall honour their memory.
They reflect the image of the ICRC as a place where individuals of different nationalities, culture and background come together to follow the ideal of helping their fellows. In many countries we encounter people who express great affection for these men and women who "come from afar" to bring assistance and protection. Some do indeed come from afar, while others belong to the area or country where they work. It is from their combined energies and their mutual trust that we derive our strength. Today we pay tribute to four Congolese, a Swiss and a Colombian who embodied these common values.
It is personalities such as theirs that do honour to the ICRC, which will persist in its endeavour to preserve life and human dignity with the tenacity shown by its staff. This endeavour requires resolute action on the part of many. As for its own responsibilities, the ICRC will shoulder them in the future as it has in the past. The price paid by our six colleagues on 26 April, however, is a price I cannot and will never accept. This rejection, you understand, is total.
The ICRC has suffered a crushing blow. The ICRC's determination to continue its defence of human life and dignity remains however unshaken.
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