He was a man accustomed to difficult and dangerous situations, and that is partly why United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan laments his death as a personal loss and one that will be felt deeply throughout the UN system.

Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello, 55, died yesterday in Baghdad, where he had served since May 27 as Annan's special representative to aid in the rebuilding of Iraq. The envoy was the victim of a bomb blast at the UN headquarters in the Iraqi capital.

Vieira de Mello held the post of UN under-secretary-general as well as the UN high commissioner for human rights.

Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva declared an official three-day mourning period when he received confirmation in Brasilia of the UN official's death, and described it as "the insanity of terrorism."

The president of Chile, Ricardo Lagos, who was meeting with Lula at the time, said Vieira de Mello's death is a "tragic sign of our times," as it is increasingly more difficult to achieve peace than it is to win wars.

Vast experience

Vieira de Mello was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1948. He was not a Brazilian diplomat, but rather an employee of the United Nations since 1969, the year he began work with the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, based in Geneva.

Since then he has served in official missions around the world, often in the middle of conflict. He worked to help refugees - the displaced, victims of ethnic, religious and political conflicts - in Bangladesh, Sudan, Cyprus, Mozambique, Pakistan, Peru, Lebanon, Cambodia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In Lebanon, for example, he served from 1981 to 1983, when the country was a battleground and site of massacres in the context of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

In 1999, he accepted a position that marked a major step in his career within the UN system. He became the interim administrator of East Timor during its transition period to independence, achieved last year after four centuries as a Portuguese colony and 26 years under iron-fisted Indonesian rule.

Vieira de Mello's 33 years of experience made him an ideal choice to take on the thorny responsibility of representing the United Nations in the reconstruction of Iraq, occupied by a US-led coalition.

Last interview

On Sunday, the Brazilian agency ' Estado ' published what was his last interview with his native country's media. In the interview he described the occupation of Iraq as "traumatic".

"This must be one of the most humiliating periods in the history of the Iraqi people. I know I wouldn't want to see foreign tanks in Copacabana (Rio de Janeiro's most famous beach districts)," he said.

The envoy expressed hope that in 2004 it would be possible to hold parliamentary elections in Iraq in order to pave the way for a new government and an end to the mandate of the occupying forces.

"I think I have experienced more dangerous situations. Here in Baghdad, I don't feel as much in danger as in other places where I worked for the United Nations," he said in the interview, parts of which were not released until yesterday.

Asked if he thought the UN offices in Iraq could be a target for terrorists he responded, "I don't think so."

"The UN is highly respected by the local population. The Iraqis see the UN as an independent organisation, a friend, in contrast to what they feel towards the occupying forces."

The death of Vieira de Mello "is a loss that cannot be compensated," said Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

"But he leaves us with the memory of a man who fought for peace, for reconstruction, always in the defence of human rights, the rights of those who suffer most, and the rights of refugees."

His contribution to human rights "will not be forgotten," said the watchdog group Amnesty International in a statement yesterday.

Marcio Thomaz Bastos, Brazil's justice minister, said Vieira de Mello is a "martyr for the cause of peace," whose vocation was "the path of harmony, of overcoming differences, and of tolerance." - IPS