Body of slain UN envoy de Mello flown to Geneva for burial

A BRAZILIAN Air Force plane carrying the body of slain UN envoy to Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello headed to Geneva on Sunday, one day after a vigil and funeral ceremony in his hometown.

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.