Posted by AssureHaddon from dialup-67.73.51.155.Dial1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (67.73.51.155) on Monday, September 01, 2003 at 2:11PM :
In Reply to: Rebuilding Irak vs Simple Assistance Mission posted by AssureHaddon from dialup-67.73.51.155.Dial1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (67.73.51.155) on Monday, September 01, 2003 at 1:53PM :
World mourns Sergio Vieira de Mello, diplomat without borders, human humanitarian
Monday August 25, 2003
EDITOR'S NOTE AP Special Correspondent Mort Rosenblum has watched Sergio Vieia de Mello wage peace over decades in troublespots around the world.< ^By MORT ROSENBLUM= ^AP Special Correspondent=
PARIS (AP) A worldful of mourners are saying goodbye to Sergio Vieira de Mello, a diplomat without borders who personified the human in humanitarian, whose death in Baghdad signals a fearful future.
He died slowly on Tuesday in the rubble of his U.N. headquarters after a terrorists' truck full of military explosives blew up just below his office. Twenty-two others were killed along with him.
Many worried aloud about a new global climate in which senseless violence can kill even a man like Vieira de Mello, who at 55 had spent a life waging peace in the most bitter of conflicts.
But others hoped that at the very least his martyrdom would galvanize world support for the peaceful mechanisms he championed.
``His last words were, 'Don't let them pull out the mission,''' said Afsane Bassir Pour of the French daily Le Monde, a long-time friend who spoke with colleagues who sought vainly to save him.
In hindsight, questions were raised about security at the U.N. headquarters. But Vieira de Mello had made a point of separating his mission from U.S. troops who many Iraqis see as an occupation force.
And his philosophy was always clear: You don't want to surround a humanitarian headquarters with guns anymore than you want to armorplate an ambulance. Certain things are sacred, clear to all warring parties.
Now, Vieira de Mello's many friends and associates wonder, has this basic tenet now changed? Has the United Nations lost its intended neutrality because of the policies of the major powers behind it?
That was the point of a tribute by author William Shawcross, who remarked the attack goes beyond catastrophe. ``It is,'' he wrote, ``the international version of Sept. 11.''
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Shawcross brought momentarily back to life the Brazilian statesman who spent 30 years bringing hope to dead-end crises in every part of the world:
``He was debonair, immaculately dressed, remarkably handsome and with a smile that could launch a thousand cease-fires. Women adored him. Men admired him.''
He was also a man of scrupulous honesty, who evaluated situations fairly and clearly. And he was not afraid to say what he felt.
Anyone who knew Vieira de Mello, from heads of state to the office clean-up crews with whom he would chat long after midnight in whichever backwater he happened to be, had reasons for respect.
Journalists beat a path to his door. When he trusted a reporter, he would supply crucial background to the most sensitive situations, which did much to illuminate areas darkened by the fog of war.
In those early days of the Balkan war, when we all had such trouble telling the players, Sergio was our program. A few flashes of his anguish, lightened by a splash of humor, gave us crucial insight.
Though a statesman and a diplomat, he knew that impartiality was no reason for ducking reality, and he called things as he saw them.
In a recent op-ed piece for O Estado de Sao Paulo, he expressed sympathy for Iraqis who might resent what they see as invasion and occupation.
``I would not like to see foreign troops invade Copacabana,'' he wrote.
Vieira de Mello studied philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and joined the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in 1969 to help with the violent birth of Bangladesh. He then worked in Cyprus, Mozambique, Peru, Lebanon and Cambodia.
Many admirers first met him in the Balkans, where he softened the impact of Yugoslavia's collapsing pieces. He left Croatia in 1992, and hundreds danced all night at an old castle in a raucous farewell.
He was special U.N. envoy to Kosovo in 1999 and then mediated the mess in East Timor until 2002.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked him to oversee Iraq operations, U.N. aides say, because he was the only senior official with the full confidence of Washington.
Secretary of State Colin Powell sent a message to Rio de Janeiro, where a service was held Saturday: ``Where others saw obstacles or despair, he created options and solutions.''
But in frequent telephone conversations with top aides who died with him, Bassir Pour heard what she called helplessness and despair.
``They kept saying over and over that the U.S. wouldn't let them do anything, that they could not create a space for the U.N.,'' she said in a conversation from Geneva. ``They were very, very unhappy,''
She said that some key Iraqi figures would only talk to Vieira de Mello and not L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. representative, but still American authorities sought to sideline the U.N.
At the end, Brazilian authorities refused to let the United States bring his body home. Instead, a presidential aircraft came from Rio.
His remains are to cross the ocean yet again for a memorial service in Geneva and burial at his family castle at Thonon-les-Bains, nearby in France.
Beyond the mission, mourners remembered the man: a polyglot charmer who seemed to have no enemies, anywhere.
Those close to Vieira de Mello used to joke about how he could walk through the thickest mud of the day's worst calamity zone and emerge with a shine on his fancy Italian loafers.
In the more brutal heat and humidity, he never broke a sweat, and his silk ties never seemed to wilt.
When Bassir Pour interviewed him as the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, she noted that his new job was the hardest in the U.N. system, with so many disparate national interests.
Vieira de Mello just laughed. ``He told me he had run the U.N. demining commission,''' she remembers, ``and he was immune to minefields.''
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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: Translated from French Afrique Asie webpage
: Resistance
: Why lOnu?
: BY MAJED NEHMÉ
: Beyond the cries deffroi and dindignation heard a little everywhere in the world after lattentat against the seat of lOnu in Baghdad, August 19, 2003, where the personal representative of Kofi Annan, Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello, found death with many other employees onusiens, it is advisable to know reason to keep and of sinterroger on the major reasons which made possible such a condemnable act.
: It should be underlined dabord that this nest not the first time that senior officials of lOnu are assassinated. The first dentre them was the Swedish mediator, the count Bernadotte, assassinated in 1948 by Jewish terrorist lorganisation Irgoun directed by Begin and from which two Israeli Prime Ministers, Yitzak Shamir and Ariel Sharon come. In 1961, lavion of the secretary-general of lOnu, Dag Hammarskjöld, travels from there towards Congo, is probably cut down above Rhodesia of North.
: No need to recall that for the Arab world in general, and the Iraqi people in particular, lOnu is often comparable with limpuissance, when she nest not shown complicity with the great powers. Nest this not lOnu which created in 1947 lEtat dIsraël, without preserving the rights of the driven out Palestinian people of his fatherland nor that that moves in addition to measurement the good Western consciences? If lAssemblée general of lOnu took more than four hundred resolutions calling with the return of the Palestinian refugees in their hearths, Israel, supported by the United States, A all rejected without risking the least sanction.
: With respect to lIrak, lOnu pressed with the feet its own charter. The Security Council became, since leffondrement of lURSS, a simple room denregistrement of the American wills. With the eyes of the Iraqi people, the United States used lOnu to declare to him the war, lassiéger and laffamer with the name dun canted international law. An Iraqi million and half civil, including five hundred and thousand children, perished because of this embargo onusien. Admittedly several representatives of lOnu, charged to make these sanctions less cruel, preferred claquer the door rather than to cover this policy génocidaire. Cest the case of lAllemand Hans Von Sponeck and of lIrlandais Denis Halliday.
: American Ladministration sest been used as lOnu to carry out the war against lIrak. Bush and Blair called upon several Council Resolutions of safety to justify their crusade against this country by pretexting quil had weapons of massive destruction. The continuation is known. Once lIrak occupied, the new colonizers refused daccorder with lOnu another quhumanitaire role. In their spirit, lOnu owes soccuper only of the service after-vente , of development with Anglo-American colonial lexpédition. Under these conditions, Kofi Annan drew the conclusions which simposent by letting the United States assume only the consequences of their acts as an occupying power. But this did not nétait lavis other members permanent of the Security Council, who hoped to force the hand in Washington for lamener to replace lOnu in the center of the rebuilding and the rehabilitation of lIrak. The Security Council, by dispatching Sergio Vieira de Mello in Iraq under the pressure of Washington to advise the Americans and to help them to manage loccupation, under pretext dy to put an end as quickly as possible, contributed to his death. Cétait a fatal error that Kofi Annan underlined after the death of its representative by showing the American occupants to davoir missed owe them of occupying power which should have ensured the safety of the Iraqis and abroad in Iraq.
: Will LOnu face its responsibilities to push the coalition to be put an end to loccupation, like linsinue Kofi Annan, or it will more take pretext of this attack for simpliquer in a policy consisting in legitimating loccupation gradually? If cest the second scenario which is carried out, there is then sinterroger on the true instigators of this act which will naura finally been useful that the American intentions. But whatever holding and the outcomes of this attack, it nen does not remain less quil shows in a bright way léchec of the United States which, at the end of several months doccupation, failed in all their obligations of occupying power, whose first duty is dassurer the safety of the Iraqis and all those which are on the Iraqi ground.
: It is still time for lOnu to seize again and cease any collusion with the colonizers. The mission first of lorganisation is daider lIrak to be decolonized and not to be used as back-up troop with loccupation. It will have to be in the center of the rebuilding of lIrak and not a simple mission dassistance. Any other approach will be regarded as an escape ahead and will indicate this organization like a target of choice for the resistant ones. If the powers which sétaient opposite with this war do not re-examine their strategy, the death of Sergio Vieira de Mello will naura used for nothing. This revision simpose dautant more than ladministration Bush persists and signs. It does not want that lOnu succeeds where it lamentably failed. As notes it with relevance lanalyste Bernard Guetta, in LExpress , Bush sobstine in lerror, will try to délargir his coalition and to break a little more lUnion European and the United Nations, jusquau day when he will be too late to channel this chaos. This man is dangerous .
:
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: : Translated from Spanish website(www.terra.com)
: : Attack went directed against Vieira Mello, according to its bodyguards
: : It sends to a friend
: : The attack against the seat of the UN in Bagdad went "directed" against the representative of Nations United in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who died in the attack next to except other 23 people, according to its bodyguards.
: : 22/ago/2003. - "the angle (of the attack) was chosen" and the authors "received information from the interior" of the Hotel Channel, according to today affirm the three French people in charge of the security of Vieira de Mello the vespertine one "Cleans to Him".
: : "I am convinced that who instigaron the attack they were there at the moment of the explosion. If there had been a system of monitoring cameras we would much more have information needs on which they carried out it ", affirmed Gabriel Pichon.
: : Pichon, next to also the ex- military Alain Chergui and Romain Baron, directed the team of nine men in charge of the protection of Vieira de Mello.
: : "Era the great man, whom it respected to everybody and it knew to speak with all, from greatest to smallest", according to Chergui, hurt in the head because of the explosion.
: : Pichon, that knew the "head" since the Brazilian diplomat was named High Commissioner of the UN for the Human rights, had accompanied to him to Burundi before traveling to Iraq.
: : According to both, the morning of the attack, Vieira de Mello had a meeting anticipated to the 13,00 hours in the Council of the provisional Authority (American in Iraq) that was annulled, reason why it remained in the office ".
: : The Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, showed today that he does not know if the authors of the attack counted on the aid of the Iraqian agents of security who watched the dependencies of the UN attacked Tuesday the past.
: : The newspaper "The New York Times" informed in its edition of today that agents of the security which they worked inside the seat of the UN in Bagdad offered information to the people in charge of the attack perpetrated Tuesday, in which at least 24 people died, according to has indicated a source of United Nations.
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: : : A DIPLOMAT'S LIFE
: : : Sergio Vieira de Mello, 55, of the U.N., Dies
: : : By PAUL LEWIS
: : :
: : : ergio Vieira de Mello, the top United Nations official in Iraq and the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, who had served the organization in trouble spots around the globe, died yesterday from injuries received in the bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. He was 55.
: : : "The loss of Sergio Vieira de Mello is a bitter blow for the United Nations and for me personally," Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday. "I can think of no one we could less afford to spare."
: : : On May 29, Mr. Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian citizen, was picked by Mr. Annan to be his special representative in Iraq for four months. The choice was widely seen as a tribute to Mr. Vieira de Mello's exceptional diplomatic skills and charm, honed on a succession of difficult assignments that clearly qualified him for the task of helping rebuild Iraq.
: : : A rare international diplomat who relished risky negotiations as well as grinding work in the field, Mr. Vieira de Mello was best known for leading the United Nations Transitional Administration that prepared East Timor for full independence after it broke from Indonesia.
: : : Earlier he served as the chief United Nations official in Kosovo after United States bombing raids broke Serbian control of the province.
: : : He was rewarded for these successful missions with his appointment in September 2002 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 United Nations.
: : : Announcing Mr. Vieira de Mello's appointment to the Baghdad post, Mr. 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, Mr. Vieira de Mello faced the exceptionally difficult task of coordinating the United Nations' efforts to rebuild civil authority and promote humanitarian relief with a United States occupying force reluctant to cede authority to the United Nations.
: : : When the Security Council agreed last May to lift economic sanctions against Iraq and authorize the United States and Britain to administer the country until a democratic government was established, it also insisted on giving the United Nations a role in the country's postwar evolution.
: : : From the moment he arrived, Mr. Vieira de Mello insisted his priority was to protect the interests of the Iraqi people during the United States-led 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 the resentment of Iraqis at having foreign troops on their soil, telling a Brazilian newspaper in an interview published 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, Mr. Vieira de Mello established a satisfactory relationship with L. Paul Bremer III, the top United States administrator there, and he told friends he was confident they would 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 United Nations 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.
: : : 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 adviser to the United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon from 1981 to 1983.
: : : The 1990's 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 Great Lakes region of Africa torn by civil wars.
: : : Mr. Vieira de Mello is survived by his wife, Annie; and their two sons, Adrien and Laurent.
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: : : : Iraq: The UN votes important resolution
: : : : of Paul Manzo ( p.manzo@vita.it )
: : : : 26/08/2003
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: : : : After the dismissal of 24 hours sped up from the USA, the resolution would have today to be voted to the UN that strengthens the protection of the staff of the humanitarian agencies in Iraq
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: : : : After the dismissal of 24 hours sped up from the United States, the resolution would have today to be voted to the Security Council of the United Nations that strengthens the protection of the staff of the humanitarian agencies in Iraq. The administration American has contested the text, put to point from Mexico, from the moment that contains a reference to international the penal Court, whose dealt institutive e' be ratified from Washington: in the document it is said in fact that the attacks against the operating humanitarians Yesterday represent a crime of war based on the charter of the Cpi. evening, the secretary of State American Colin Powell has discussed with the Mexican colleague Luis Ernesto Derbez of the possibilita' to modify the rough draft of the resolution. ' ' We appreciate the necessita' very protect the operating humanitarians and the necessita' of giving they it possibilita' to make their job - it has commented the megaphone of the department of State Philip T. Reeker - But are taken care for the used language, in particular for the reference to international the penal Court ' '. Mexico had made circular its plan of resolution supported from France, Germany, Russia, Bulgaria and Syria, gia' in opens them slid and it has resumed it the week slid, after the attack to quartier general of the UN to Baghdad, cost the life to 23 persons.
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