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Associated Press August 19, 2004

East Timor Remembers Former UN Envoy Killed In Iraq

DILI, East Timor (AP)--East Timor's leaders marked the anniversary Thursday of an attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq that killed the agency's top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, who also helped guide the territory to independence from Indonesia.

"I wish to pay tribute not only to our lovely brother Sergio Vieira de Mello, but also to the other U.N. staffers who died," President Xanana Gusmao said at a remembrance ceremony in the capital Dili. "We in East Timor must pay tribute to them at this very significant moment."

Vieira de Mello was the top U.N. diplomat in Iraq when suicide bombers attacked the agency's headquarters on Aug. 19 last year, killing him and 22 other staffers.

The Brazilian, who had been talked about as a future U.N. secretary-general, led the U.N. mission to East Timor after it voted in August 1999 for independence in a referendum sponsored by the world body.

The vote triggered an orgy of violence by the Indonesian military and its proxy militias.

The U.N. mission administered the half-island territory for 2 1/2 years following the chaos, rebuilding institutions and bringing it to full independence on May 20, 2002.

East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said Vieira de Mello was a "man of peace."

"It is not enough to just to stage this memorial ceremony for Sergio. It is important that each of us should assume responsibility to serve humanity ... and to stop terrorism." he said.