UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday released a statement to confirm the death of Hédi Annabi, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti.

“I am deeply saddened to confirm the tragic death of my Special Representative to Haiti, Hédi Annabi,” said the Secretary-General. Hédi Annabi was a Tunisian diplomat and Special Representative to the United Nations Secretary-General, Head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti. Annabi went missing after the 2010 Haiti earthquake in which the UN Headquarters in Port-au-Prince collapsed. His body was recovered on Saturday, January 16.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that he, along with other United Nations officials, “[…] gave their lives for peace.”

“An icon of UN peacekeeping, there was no better representative of the international civil service,” the Secretary-General lauded. “A mild man with the heart of a lion, he is remembered by those who knew him for his dry sense of humor, his integrity, and his unparalleled work ethic—he was the first in and the last out every day for his entire career.”

Annabi joined the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in 1992 and served as the Director of the Africa Division from 1993 to 1996. In addition, he was designated as Officer-in-Charge of the Office of Operations of the DPKO in June 1996. He was appointed Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations in January 1997. In September 2007, he was appointed head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

“He was proud of the UN mission in Haiti – proud of its accomplishments in bringing stability and hope to Haiti’s people, proud of his UN staff,” said the Secretary-General.

Along with Annabi, two other United Nations officials are confirmed to have perished: Annabi’s Deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa, and the Acting Police Commissioner, Doug Coates of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.