Mourning a peacemaker

Click to view caption

As President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Sergio de Mello's widow Annie mourn the Brazilian diplomat, Gilda Vieira de Mello rests her head on her son's coffin

UN SPECIAL envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello was laid to rest on Monday in the small French town of Thonon-les-Bains on the Swiss border. He was the highest-ranking UN official to be killed in the bomb blast that shook the organisation's headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August. The devastating blast left 23 people dead and scores of others wounded.

De Mello's funeral followed a somber memorial service in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro. Draped in the Brazilian flag, his coffin was laid in state at Rio's City Palace before it was flown to France for burial. A grim-faced Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silvia and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan both attended the memorial service. Da Silvia, who described de Mello as a national hero, declared three days of national mourning as Brazilians tried to come to grips with the shock of de Mello's death.

Annan, who had difficulty suppressing his tears, described de Mello as a hero who died in the service of peace. He said that it was de Mello's "dying wish" that the UN continue operating in Iraq.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, Iraq's Governing Council described the late diplomat as "a friend of the Iraqi people" and called for the creation of a monument in his memory.

Considered a rare, highly-skilled, charismatic and charming diplomat, de Mello was appointed as Annan's special envoy in Iraq at the end of May. The appointment was a recognition of a long and outstanding career that stretched over a span of 33 years.

De Mello joined the UN in 1969 when he served in the Geneva office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). His position took him to Bangladesh in 1971 as the poor Asian country won its independence. He served in Cyprus in the aftermath of the Turkish invasion in 1974. One year later, he served in Mozambique after a civil war broke out in the aftermath of the African country's independence from Portugal.

Between 1981-1983, de Mello served as political advisor to the UN peace-keeping troops in Lebanon. But it was the 1990s that witnessed his best recognised roles. Following the Rwandan genocide of 1996, De Mello served as humanitarian coordinator for the Great Lakes region. That same year, he was appointed assistant UN High Commissioner. In 1999, he was chief UN official in Kosovo before heading the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor between October 1999 and May 2002. During the 1990s, he also dealt with the refugee and humanitarian problems in Cambodia. He was appointed UN High Commissioner in September 2002 and was on leave from that position when he went to Iraq.

De Mello was born in Rio de Janeiro on 15 March 1948. He was educated in Brazil and France and received two doctorate degrees in philosophy and humanities from the Sorbonne University in Paris. In addition to his native Portuguese, de Mello was fluent in French, English and Spanish. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and mother whose deteriorating health didn't permit her to fly from Rio de Janeiro to France to attend her son's funeral.