Irish Red Cross pays tribute to UN diplomat

David Andrews, the chairman of the Irish Red Cross, has paid tribute to Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN envy to Iraq who was killed in a truck bombing in Baghdad yesterday.

Mr Vieira de Mello was among at least 20 people who died in the attack on the Canal Hotel, which was being used as the UN headquarters in Iraq.

Mr Andrews, a former Foreign Affairs Minister who worked with Mr Vieira de Mello in East Timor, said the Brazilian diplomat was dedicated to the cause of the UN.

"From his young manhood in 1960 up the time he was assassinated yesterday, he was a member of the United Nations and he was an enormously strong, courageous leader," Mr Andrews said.