East Timor grieves for "great brother and friend"

East Timor grieves for "great brother and friend"

Agencies, Dili

Flags flew at half-mast in the world's newest nation on Wednesday as East Timorese mourned the death of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the man who helped guide them to statehood last year.

East Timor has lost a "unique and unforgettable friend," President Xanana Gusmao said on Wednesday after the death of the United Nations envoy in the bomb attack against the world body's offices in Baghdad.

"It is with shock and great sadness that I received news of the tragic killing," Gusmao said.

Vieira de Mello served as the de facto UN governor of East Timor from December 1999 to May 2002, following the territory's bloody break with Indonesia.

Mello's administration is credited with facilitating the return of 250,000 refugees who had fled the violence carried out by Indonesia's army after a UN independence referendum on Aug. 30, 1999.

It also helped re-establish basic government and medical services, reopen schools, and set up new police and armed forces in the devastated territory. It organized the new nation's first free presidential and parliamentary elections.

"East Timorese have lost a great friend and brother," said Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta.

"The UN has lost a very competent staff member and the international community has lost one of its intellects," he told reporters.

Ramos-Horta described Vieira de Mello as "a great diplomat who served the United Nations in many places in the world, places where there was troubles and conflict."

Vieira de Mello, the top United Nations envoy in Iraq, and at least 16 others were killed when a massive truck bomb devastated the UN headquarters in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Among many other posts, the 55-year-old Brazilian had headed the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor -- which prepared the country for independence after its bloody breakaway from Indonesia in 1999.

"Mr de Mello was a very close friend to most of our leaders," said foreign ministry spokesman Roberto Soares Cabral. "He was a man who always advocated peace, human rights, democracy and justice for the people of East Timor."

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975. In August 1999, East Timorese voted to separate from Indonesia, sparking an orgy of violence and destruction by pro-Jakarta militias and some departing Indonesian troops.

Vieira de Mello arrived in the territory in November that year and stayed until independence in May 2002, overseeing UN efforts to build a nation from scratch.

"Sergio de Mello was a friend from the international community, who contributed so much in the period of transition to nationhood," said Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

He described the UN official as "very much part of the history of Timor Leste (East Timor)."

Colin Stewart, who heads the Jakarta office of the UN's successor mission in East Timor, said Vieira de Mello had been considered a possible future UN secretary general.

"For the UN and the world, he was a great man," Stewart told AFP.

"The UN success in East Timor rested largely on his personality. He personally guided the interim administration and engaged all East Timorese leaders, keeping them on track whatever the challenges.

"He was held in incredible esteem in East Timor and by the UN, which he provided with one of its greatest success stories."

Dili street hawker Paul Quintas called Vieira de Mello a "hero of Timor Leste."

"Even though I did not know him personally, only from television, the radio and from newspapers, I saw him as a good person," he added.

Housewife Maria Domingus wept as she watched news of the bombing on television.

"Sergio de Mello was the figure of a good leader," she said. "He tried to learn our language, Tetum, so that he could address us and so that we could understand him."