So frustrating. The seven Nigerian peacekeepers killed in the Haskanita attack have been buried:

A sob rose from the crowd of mourners Friday as white ambulances entered Nigeria's main military cemetery, carrying the bodies of seven soldiers killed while on peacekeeping duty in Darfur.

Nigeria, the biggest troop contributor to African peacekeeping missions, suffered the heaviest losses when Darfur rebels overran an African Union post in North Darfur last weekend. In all, seven Nigerians and one peacekeeper each from Botswana, Senegal and Mali were killed.

Nigerians, including those mourning Friday, said the attack would not bury hope that they and other Africans can bring peace to the world's poorest continent with missions like the one in Sudan's Darfur.

''Anywhere you have war, you will have losses,'' said Matthew Edoh, whose uncle, Lance Corp. Danjuma Madaki, was among the seven Nigerians brought home for burial Friday. ''But if you can go for peace, even if you sacrifice yourself, you must go. We are all fellow human beings.''

Before being flown back to Nigeria for burial, they were honored with a parade in Sudan:

Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi, Force Commander of the AU-UN hybrid force in Sudan, Gen Martin Luther Agwai, Nigerian Ambassador to Sudan, Ambassador Salihu Ahmed-Sambo, and his Malian counterpart led other military and civilian leaders to pay tributes to the fallen heroes. Kicking the tributes, the Nigerian contingent Commander, Col. James Oladipo was chocked with emotion.

With his voice shaky but still echoing through the afternoon humid weather, Col. Oladipo read out the curriculum vitae of the seven soldiers, sometimes pausing, removing his handkerchief to wipe his face intermittently. As he saluted and sat down at his front row seat, he leaned on his two hands, wiping his face. For the major part of the ceremony, he held his chin in his left hand.

Col. Oladipo later told The Guardian: "It is bad to loose one soldier. It is too terrible to loose seven, in one swoop. It's enough to make anybody emotional. None of these soldiers hesitated when their nation called upon them to resign the pleasures of life and leave their families, kith and kin to serve in a land strange to all of them. But believing that every man should live in peace and they could fall in this noble cause, they determined at the hazards of their lives to answer their nation and humanity in Darfur. They resigned to hope their unknown chance of going back home to meet their loved ones."

The names of the soldiers:

79NA/30253 Lance Corporal Danjuma Madaki, 96NA/14/13956 Lance Corporal Usman Saleh, 97NA/45/5447 Private Duniya Audu, 98NA/47/4877 Private Samuel Orokpo, 01NA/50/927 Private Bala Mohammed, 02NA/52/2292 Private John Dogara and 03NA/54/5426 Trooper Toyin Alao.