Brazil Decrees Three Days Of Mourning For UN Envoy

Ananova ^ | 8-19-2003

[blam]

Brazil decrees three days of mourning for UN envoy

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has decreed three days of official mourning for Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations' envoy who was killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad.

The president called Mr Vieira de Mello a "victim of the insanity of terrorism".

Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian and the country's most prominent international diplomat, was killed when a truck filled with explosives blew up outside the hotel where the United Nations has its Baghdad offices.

President da Silva was told of Mr Vieira de Mello's death during a meeting with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos in the Brazilian capital. Mr da Silva called for a minute's silence and then declared the three-day mourning period.

His foreign minister, Celso Amorim, called the killing "an irreparable loss".

During his 30-year career as a UN troubleshooter in wartorn countries ranging from Kosovo to East Timor, Vieira de Mello fought "for human rights, for the rights of all those who suffer and for the rights of refugees", Mr Amorim said.

"His brutal death will not be in vain," Mr Amorim said. "It will make us seek ways to fight terrorism in a rational way, with the support of multilateral actions and within the framework of international law."

Former Brazilian president Jose Sarney said Mr Vieira de Mello's death represented an "irreparable loss for international diplomacy".

© Associated Press

Story filed: 22:25 Tuesday 19th August 2003

[Don Corleone]

And where were they when we asked for help? One of the many missing as I recall. Now that one of their little oxen has been gored they are all atwitter. If I knew the Portugese for "I told you so" I would post it.