Reply #7: Just the opposite [View All]

He was critical of the US, and insisted on the UN's independence in Iraq.

Frankly, I think the man was fairly close with the Clinton administration, at least as his service in Kosovo and East Timor indicate. I expect that - like most people who care about the oppressed in the world and prefer diplomacy to bloodshed - he disliked the Bushistas to a man.

Sergio de Mello's loss is great indeed. A man of peace and TRUE compassion, a scholar and a diplomat.

Placing him next to the despicable George W. Bush for a comparison should make Americans wince in shame. We have shamed ourselves for history by allowing Bush to seize power. Not only had deMello fought the good fight on behalf of his fellow human beings, he also did so in the most troubled regions of the world, putting himself at considerable risk. So, unlike the unelected fraud currently occupying our White House, he demonstrated both compassion and courage. A man of wit, strength, intelligence and character, de Mello makes George W. Bush look like the infantile bully and rank coward he is.

http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/0/793f22e7e40ccd0785256d3400686ca8?OpenDocument

Biographical Note

The Secretary-General announced on 27 May the appointment of Sergio Vieira de Mello, presently the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as his Special Representative for Iraq for a period of four months. In Mr. Vieira de Mello's absence from Geneva, the Secretary-General has designated the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Gangapersaud Ramcharan, as Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Prior to his appointment as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in September 2002, Mr. Vieira de Mello served as the United Nations Transitional Administrator in East Timor. In 1998, Mr. Vieira de Mello served at Headquarters as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator for a year and a half. He later served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Kosovo (June-July 1999).

Mr. Vieira de Mello served with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since 1969 in various capacities, including as Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees in January 1996. He has extensive Headquarters and field experience in humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, including those in Bangladesh, Sudan, Cyprus, Mozambique, Peru and Lebanon. Mr. Vieira de Mello also served as Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for Cambodia, Director of Repatriation for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), Head of Civil Affairs of the United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR), as well as United Nations Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Mr. Vieira de Mello studied in Brazil and France, receiving two doctorates from the University of Paris (Panthéon-Sorbonne). He was born on 15 March 1948.