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Francois Preziosi turned out to have tempted fate when in July 1964 in a field report from the UNHCR office he headed in eastern Congo, he described to colleagues the dangerous work he was doing in trying to protect refugees.
"If I seem to take some risks by going frequently to the front lines, it is not out of pure curiosity, but to be able, when the time is ripe, to intervene and try to prevent any inconsiderate action against the refugees both in the field and in the resettlement centres," he wrote. "To be able to do this I have to become a familiar sight among the officers and soldiers and therefore to visit them frequently."
Preziosi was murdered only weeks later, on 18 August 1964. His death was not at the hands of soldiers, but by a machete-wielding Congolese and Tutsi refugee mob at a camp near Bukavu, the capital of Congo's South Kivu. Their car was surrounded and they were set upon. Killed with him was a colleague, Jean Plicque of the International Labour Organization.
UNHCR was founded in 1951. Preziosi was its first staff member to be lost in the line of duty. He was posthumously awarded the Nansen Refugee prize, reflecting both his dedication and the depth of shock felt by many of his colleagues. His name is being read out today at UNHCR...