IRAQ: When he took up his post, Mr de Mello had to face Iraqi angerover more than a decade of punitive sanctions, writes Michael Jansen
UN flags were lowered yesterday to half mast for Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, who died in the massive blast which devastated UN headquarters in Iraq. He was chosen on May 27th to serve for four months as the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Iraq and began his mission in early June.
Mr Kofi Annan made no secret that Mr de Mello, who succeeded Ireland's former president, Mrs Mary Robinson, as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in September 2002, was his choice for the post.
Earlier in the year, there had been some speculation that the former Algerian foreign minister Mr Lakhdar Brahimi, the current UN chief in Afghanistan, could be shifted to Iraq.
But Mr Brahimi, the Arabs' favourite for the appointment, had been sharply critical of the Bush administration's drive to wage war on Iraq.
Since Mr de Mello had previously occupied politically sensitive positions, the 55-year old Brazilian diplomat, who had had a 33- year career at the United Nations, was eminently qualified for the job.
But none were as challenging and difficult as the Iraq assignment. When he took up his post in Iraq, Mr de Mello had to face Iraqi anger over more than a decade of punitive UN sanctions which devastated the country's infrastructure and economy and precipitated Iraq's total collapse in the aftermath of the war.
Mr de Mello's spokesman, Mr Ahmad Fawzi, yesterday made the point that in addition to sanctions, the UN imposed a weapons inspection regime which undermined the security of the country and provided the pretext for the US to wage war on Iraq.
While under strong US pressure soon after the fall of Saddam Hussein in early April to appoint a personal representative for Iraq, Mr Annan refused to do so.
He was determined to deny UN endorsement to the US military campaign, which was not waged under the authority of the world body and was opposed by a majority of Security Council members. Initially, Mr Annan named a former Pakistani diplomat as his New York-based adviser on Iraq. But Mr Annan was eventually obliged to name a personal representative.
Nevertheless, he rejected Washington's attempts to subjugate to its occupation administration UN humanitarian efforts in Iraq and insisted that the UN should carry on with its own programmes outside the control of the US regime.
Mr Annan eventually appointed Mr de Mello for the limited four-month period with the aim of using the leverage provided by withholding an extension to secure for the UN a leading role in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Iraq.
This proposition has been vehemently rejected by the US Vice President, Mr Dick Cheney, and the Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, both neo-conservative hardliners hostile to the UN. The failure of the US administrator in Iraq, Mr Paul Bremer, to impose law and order and deliver electricity and fuel to the Iraqi population forced the Bush administration to listen attentively to Mr de Mello, who, initially, maintained a certain distance between himself and Mr Bremer.
Although recently Mr de Mello held contacts with Mr Bremer and his associates on a daily basis, the UN objective remained an early end to the occupation regime.
Mr Annan's commitment to an independent UN role was reinforced on July 22nd when the Security Council refused to endorse the US-appointed Iraqi Interim Governing Council at the time its representatives appeared before the world body.
Mr Annan is expected to insist on complete independence following yesterday's brutal bomb attack on UN headquarters at the Canal Hotel. UN officials suggest that Mr Annan will call for the dispatch of the organisation's own security personnel to Baghdad to take over from US troops who provided minimal protection to the Canal Hotel compound.
Mr Annan is likely to try to redraw the distinction between the UN and the US occupation regime.
Prior to taking over the human rights portfolio, Mr de Mello served as UN Transitional Administrator in East Timor and as Special Representative in Kosovo. In 1998 he was posted to UN headquarters where he assumed the post of Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator.
Mr de Mello joined the UN in 1969 as an assistant editor for publications at the High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). He subsequently served in the field in Bangladesh, Sudan, Cyprus, Mozambique, Peru, and Lebanon.