Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top UN official in Iraq and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who had served the organization in trouble spots around the globe, died on Tuesday from injuries received in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. He was 55.
"The loss of Sergio Vieira de Mello is a bitter blow for the UN and for me personally," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday. "I can think of no one we could less afford to spare."
PHOTO: AP
On May 29, Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian national, was picked by Annan to be his special representative in Iraq for a period of four months. The choice was widely seen as a tribute to Vieira de Mello's exceptional diplomatic skills and charm, honed on a succession of difficult previous assignments that clearly qualified him for the task of helping rebuild Iraq.
A rare international diplomat who relished high-stakes negotiations as well as grinding work in the field, Vieira de Mello was best known for leading the UN Transitional Administration that prepared East Timor for full independence after it broke from Indonesia.
Earlier he served as the chief UN official in Kosovo after US bombing raids broke Serbian control of the province.
He was rewarded for these successful missions with his appointment in September last year as high commissioner for human rights. (He was on a leave of absence from that job when he was killed.)
His firm but elegant style contrasted with the more confrontational approach of his predecessor, Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, and, officials say, improved relations with the Bush administration.
Indeed, with his credentials as a citizen of the developing world and his ease moving in some of the more rarefied political circles, he was frequently mentioned as a potential candidate to head the UN.
Announcing Vieira de Mello's appointment to the Baghdad post, Annan acknowledged his exceptional experience in rebuilding war-devastated societies, saying: "No one has more experience in this area than Sergio Vieira de Mello. I need someone who can hit the ground running."
In Baghdad, Vieira de Mello faced the exceptionally difficult task of coordinating the UN efforts to rebuild civil authority and promote humanitarian relief with a US occupying force reluctant to cede authority to the UN.
When the Security Council agreed in May to lift economic sanctions against Iraq and authorize the US and Britain to administer the country until a democratic government is established, it also insisted on giving the UN a role in the country's postwar evolution.
From the moment he arrived, Vieira de Mello insisted his priority was to protect the interests of the Iraqi people during the US-lead occupation.
"I have been sent here with a mandate to assist the Iraqi people and those responsible for the administration of this land to achieve freedom, the possibility of managing their own destiny and determining their own future," he said shortly after he arrived in Iraq.
He also sympathized with Iraqi resentment at having foreign troops on their soil, telling a Brazilian newspaper in an interview published on Monday: "It is traumatic. It must be one of the most humiliating periods in their history. Who would like to see their country occupied. I would not like to see foreign tanks in Copacabana." He was referring to the famous beach in Rio de Janeiro.
Yet, in the short time that he was in Baghdad, Vieira de Mello established a satisfactory relationship with L. Paul Bremer, the top US administrator there, and he told friends he was confident they would definitely be able to work constructively together.
Sergio Vieira de Mello was born on March 15, 1948, in Rio de Janeiro.
He studied in Brazil and France, where he was awarded two doctorates from the University of Paris, becoming fluent in English, French and Spanish as well as Portuguese.
He joined the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva in 1969, becoming assistant high commissioner in 1996.
He served in Bangladesh as it won independence in 1971 and in Cyprus after the 1974 Turkish invasion, where he was lauded for his humanitarian efforts.
He spent three years in charge of refugees in Mozambique during the civil war that followed its independence from Portugal in 1975. He was political advisor to the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon from 1981 to 1983.
The 1990s found him dealing with refugees and other humanitarian problems in Cambodia, in the former Yugoslavia as it broke apart in a series of wars, and in the civil-war torn Great Lakes region of Africa.
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