[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 121 (Friday, September 5, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 5, 2003

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, on August 19, 2003, Kofi Annan, the Secretary-
General of the United Nations, lost a trusted envoy and the world lost 
a skilled peacemaker. Sergio Vieira de Mello was killed in the bombing 
of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. Among his dying words 
was a plea that the United Nations mission there go on.
  Sergio Vieira de Mello was a native of Brazil but a citizen of the 
world. From Bangladesh to Sudan to Cyprus, from Mozambique to Lebanon 
to Bosnia and Kosovo, to East Timor, and finally to Iraq, Mr. de 
Mello's resume reads like an atlas of some of the world's most troubled 
and dangerous places. It is also a list of accomplishment and 
achievement.
  As the Secretary-General's special envoy to Iraq, on leave from his 
position as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. de Mello saw 
his role as helping to return the governing of Iraq to the hands of its 
people.
  At his funeral, Secretary-General Annan bade Mr. de Mello a fitting 
tribute as he said goodbye: ``Sergio, my friend, you have entered the 
pantheon of fallen heroes that the United Nations wishes it did not 
have. You will shine forever among our brightest stars. May you rest in 
peace.''

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