Body of slain UN envoy de Mello flown to Geneva for burial
The widely-respected diplomat, who was also the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was among 23 people killed in a devastating suicide bombing at UN headquarters in Baghdad on Tuesday.
His wife Annie announced yesterday Vieira de Mello would be buried in Geneva's Plainpalais cemetery, the burial place of such distinguished figures as the theologian John Calvin and Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
She was travelling with her husband's body on the Boeing 707, which was to make a brief stop in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife before heading to Geneva.
The Brazilian diplomat's family had earlier suggested he would be buried near the family home near the French town of Thonon-les-Bains, close to Geneva, where he had his UN office.
But UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who attended the funeral, convinced the family he should be buried in Geneva. The funeral was also attended by the diplomat's mother and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Mr de Mello had just started to serve as the UN's high commissioner for human rights before being asked in June to head the UN mission in Iraq.
The silver-haired diplomat was considered one of the leading lights of the UN and a potential candidate to become secretary general. He served with distinction in such trouble spots as East Timor, Rwanda and Kosovo.
Mr Annan praised Mr de Mello at the funeral on Saturday, saying the people of Iraq would look back on him with gratitude. "But when we contemplate his sacrifice and that of the comrades who died with him, when we remember that they gave their lives for principle and peace, and reconciliation, then we, too, can hold our heads a little higher.
"Sergio, my friend, you have entered that pantheon of heroes that the UN wishes it did not have. You will shine forever among our brightest stars. May you rest in peace," he said.
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