EAST TIMOR: UN SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN HAS NAMED UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO AS HIS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO IRAQ
Record ID:
222826
EAST TIMOR: UN SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN HAS NAMED UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO AS HIS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO IRAQ
- Title: EAST TIMOR: UN SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN HAS NAMED UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO AS HIS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO IRAQ
- Date: 26th May 2003
- Summary: (W7) (FILE) DILI, EAST TIMOR (FEBRUARY 17, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. MV UNITED NATIONS SEC GENERAL KOFI ANNAN WALKS DOWN PLANE STEPS, GREETED BU XANANA GUSMAO, EAST TIMORESE INDEPENDENCE LEADER AND SERGIO DE VIEIRA DE MELLO, CHIEF U.N. REPRESENTATIVE IN EST TIMOR (WHITE HAIR) / WIFE OF ANNAN BEING GREETED (2 SHOTS) 0.14 2. SLV TRADITIONAL DANCERS GREETING ANNAN (2 SHOTS) 0.30 3. MV ANNAN SHAKING HANDS WITH MAJOR PETER COSGROVE, HEAD OF AUSTRALIAN-LED INTERFET FORCE; MV DANCERS AND ANNAN WALKING AWAY 0.39 (W7) (FILE) GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (REUTERS) 4. SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF DE MELLO 0.52 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th June 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: DILI, EAST TIMOR
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVADGACK3SB8V33J7SV2VHFFXM64
- Story Text: Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named U.N. human
rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello as his special
representative for Iraq, clearing the way for the world body
to begin fleshing out its role in Iraqi reconstruction, U.N.
sources said on Friday.
Annan on Friday (May 23, 2003) announced his choice of the
veteran U.N. diplomat for the newly created post in a letter
to the U.N. Security Council, the sources said.
Annan was poised to act the day after the 15-nation
council adopted a U.S.-drafted plan giving the United Nations
a limited but independent role in post-war Iraq alongside
occupying powers the United States and Britain.
Brazilian Vieira de Mello, 55, was also Washington's top
choice for the job. He had been summoned to the U.S. capital
in early March, weeks before the start of the U.S.-led
invasion of Iraq, for talks with President George W. Bush and
his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.
However, diplomats said the appointment would be for just
four months so that Vieira de Mello could also hold on to his
current job of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Annan's choice drew praise from diplomats and human rights
activists who also, however, expressed concern over the
appointment's short duration.
Vieira de Mello does not speak Arabic, but as the son of a
Brazilian diplomat, he is fluent in English, French, Spanish,
Italian and his native Portuguese.
The U.N. representative's job, as set out in a
U.S.-drafted resolution approved overwhelmingly by the
Security Council on Thursday, is "coordinating activities of
the United Nations in post-conflict processes in Iraq."
Vieira de Mello's responsibilities will include working in
conjunction with the United States and Britain to coordinate
humanitarian and reconstruction assistance, assist refugee
returns, promote the protection of human rights and
"facilitate a process leading to an internationally recognized
representative government of Iraq."
He will also have a seat on an international advisory
board set up to monitor Iraqi oil sales to fund
reconstruction.
A U.N. career official since 1969, Vieira de Mello has won
a reputation as a skillful navigator in troubled diplomatic
waters during stints in several international hot spots.
He has served since July 2002 as the U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights, the world's top human rights
advocate.
That Geneva-based job has been controversial since its
inception in 1994, with the commissioner often accused both of
insulting governments by speaking out on human rights abuses
and keeping too low a profile in the face of atrocities.
Before taking the human rights post, Vieira de Mello
headed the international operation in East Timor which led to
independence for the tiny Pacific nation. He also ran the U.N.
mission in Kosovo and worked in Cambodia as director for mine
clearance and in Lebanon as a political adviser to U.N.
peacekeepers.
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