SECRETARY-GENERAL’S ACTIVITIES IN BRAZIL, 22-24 AUGUST
Secretary-General Kofi Annan left New York on Friday, 22 August, arriving in Rio de Janeiro Saturday morning to attend a memorial service for Sergio Vieira de Mello, his Special Representative for Iraq, who was killed in a bomb attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad on Tuesday, 19 August.
At the airport upon arrival, he met briefly with Brazil´s President, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. They talked about the deteriorating security situation in Iraq and the Secretary-General conveyed his condolences to the President for the deaths the day before of 21 Brazilian technicians when a rocket designed to launch a communications satellite exploded during a test.
The two then proceeded to Rio´s City Hall, where Sergio Vieira de Mello´s body was lying in state.
Surrounded by mourning family members, friends and Brazilian officials, the Secretary-General spoke first, saying “I thank you all for being here today, as we mourn the loss of a dear friend of mine, a beloved son of Brazil, and a great servant of the United Nations”.
His work in Iraq is left unfinished, the Secretary-General went on, “But, please God, we shall complete it. His dying wish was that the United Nations Mission there should not be pulled out. Let us respect that”.
In concluding, he said, “Sergio, my friend, you have entered that Pantheon of the fallen heroes that the United Nations wishes it did not have. You will shine forever among our brightest stars. May you rest in peace”. [See press release SG/SM/8829 of 25 August.]
President Lula then spoke: “Sergio was not an ordinary person”, he said, turning to Sergio´s mother. People like him are born to make things possible which seem impossible to others. Men like Sergio do not die. I believe he is traveling. Who knows, perhaps traveling to a new place where there is a problem that he wants to help solve with the conviction he always carried out”. He added, “The United Nations has lost one of its most extraordinary diplomats”.
The Secretary-General then gathered family members to his side –- Sergio´s mother, his wife, their two sons, and his sister and her son -– and they silently bid him farewell.
He and the President then retired to a separate room, where they spoke first of Sergio. They then discussed the upcoming General Assembly session in September, at which the President would be the opening speaker, and ways to revive the Monterrey consensus on fighting poverty and to accelerate efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
On Saturday evening, the Secretary-General had a private dinner with Sergio´s mother, his wife and sister and their children.
On Sunday, he was the guest of the Vice-Governor of Rio de Janeiro, Luis Paulo Conde, who hosted a luncheon in his honour.
In the afternoon, before departing for New York, the Secretary-General met with members of the press. He described Sergio Vieira de Mello as a very close friend, who was “more like a brother” to him.
Asked about security measures in Iraq, he said that further measures would be taken to strengthen the security of United Nations personnel. But he added, “The option of withdrawing is not something we can consider. The people of Iraq need us; they want us to stay”.
Asked about the possibility of multilateral forces being sent to Iraq, he said that is an issue under discussion and added, “I’m intimately involved in these discussions, but it will take some time for us to come to conclusions”.
He arrived back in New York early on Monday morning, 25 August.